Q&A: What the S&P downgrade means to you

Some questions and answers about the S&P downgrade:

Q: What happened?

A: The U.S. had its AAA credit rating downgraded for the first time by Standard & Poor’s, which slammed the nation’s political process and said lawmakers failed to cut spending enough to reduce record deficits.

“S&P wanted something more concrete, and larger, sooner rather than later,â€