Ratings Agencies Begin to Upgrade Government Bonds

At least Moody's is.

For years, corporate debt has been rated higher than equivalent government debt, and once the monoliner insurers started to implode, municipalities realized how much of a racket it was, with the ratings agencies using a stricter standard, so that the government debt had to use insurers where the rater's brother-in-law worked.

Took long enough, and I'm sure that the fact that various Attorneys General were looking into this, and that there was a bill in congress, had nothing to do with the change.