sean egan is president of egan jones ratings. his company has downgraded the u.s. rating to aa and he says everyone else should get on board. sean egan joins me now. sean, that is troubling. we'll get to that in just a moment. first let's talk about the stock market today. shouldn't the debt deal have helped to pump it up? >> no, it wasn't a panacea because there's some other factors that are weighing on the market. one thing, probably the overriding concern, is growth. growth was supposed to be or should be relatively robust when we're coming out of recession. it's far from that. first quarter growth was 0.4%, which is essentially no growth. then the second quarter is 1.3%, and that might be revised downward. there's some other concerns such as in europe spending was weak. then there's, lastly, the concern about how to fix our problems. i refer to it as a clash of ideologies in terms of whether or not we should cut debt quickly, which is what the tea party is looking to do, versus the neokeynesians which prefer there be some stimulus. >> so two different philosoph

sean egan's private ratings firm is compensated by investors. he competes with the likes of s&p and moody's and says all credit rating agencies should work like his. >> reporter: the investors' interests are diametrically opposed to the issuers' interests. the issuer wants the highest rating possible, and the investor wants a realistic rating. they don't necessarily want a high or a low. they want a realistic rating to help make investment decisions. dodd/frank brought scrutiny to credit rating firms, and experts think the u.s. debt downgrade could bring even more. diane eastabrook, "nightly business report," chicago. >> suzanne: tonight, we also hear some common-sense advice for coping with the market turmoil, and it doesn't involve panic. here's eric schurenberg, financial editor-at-large at "a.a.r.p. the magazine." >> first, go into your bathroom and grasp the edges of the sink. look deeply into the mirror, and repeat three times, "i was ready for this. i can handle this." why? because you know that bear markets are the price you pay when you