This summer, David Riley Is One of the World&&9;s Most Powerful Financial Analysts.

Not only Does he Have the Power to Effectively put a "sell" on Uncle Sam, goal ET on Friday roiled Global Markets After He Said Would the Greek rescue package of design has limited the country&&9;s default on debt.

The analyst, based in London Who is, Overseer the 30-person team inside government bonds Fitch Ratings, Which Could soon downgrade the debt of the United States government from historical ITS, gold-plated, triple-A rating if Politicians in Washington cannot APPROVED to raise the debt limit.

And After Two Days of whirlwind conference calls with colleagues in London and New York to weigh What the Greek Restructuring Proposals Might look like and how Fitch Would Respond, Mr. Riley and His team has stamped "restricted default" Greece on Friday morning. The details of the one billion bailout plan $ 157 Were Announced Thursday by European leaders.

The reverberations of a downgrade by Fitch or its Competitors, Standard & Poor&&9;s and Moody&&9;s Investors Service, send Often borrowing Costs soaring for the Affected Governments Typically while putting equity and debt Markets Into a tailspin as investors run for cover.

That Power and Responsibility HAS made Mr. Riley and His Team figures - and targets for Critics Often - in the debt drama sweeping the globe this year.

"People do not know Who is selling Italian bonds or Who is going short securities or adverse Who is betting on a Greek default," Mr. Riley Said in year interview. "Goal That says a headline &&9;Downgraded Greece&&9; is a simple one-to-Understand and point the finger You Can Has Who did it very easily."

His team Recently Received hostile e-mails Labeling them "idiots" or Blaming Them for the harsh austerity Measures Many European Countries Have ADOPTED.He Is on the speed dial of European policy makers and United States Treasury Department Officials Who are eager to Convince HIM That belt-tightening Their plans are Sufficient to Avoid a negative report. His days are filled with calls from managers of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and asset managers Other Trying to gauge What Might spur a downgrade or a default and how That Would Affect Their holdings of That country&&9;s bonds.

All the while, Mr. Riley and His staff are running internal "war games," What Might Happen to exploring money market funds, financial institutions and state finances Individual Even if the United States Were to default on debt icts.

Some of the Agencies&&9; harshest Critics, however, wonder why the rating Agencies still wield power So Much.Are They acting like disinterested party in the American debt-ceiling talks or driving the discussions and agendas Through Their Own Their Demands, They ask. Standard & Poor&&9;s, for instance, HAS Said That if Any debt-ceiling Deal Did not include year agreement to Reduce the nation&&9;s deficit by $ 4 trillion over the next decade, the United States WAS still at risk of losing STI triple-A rating.

"No nation, agency or organization to Has the Authority to dictate terms the United States government," Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, in mid-July Said Moody&&9;s Placed After the United States on review for downgrade as possible. "Moody&&9;s and Its compatriot S. & P. Were the direct cause of the near-collapse of the economy of the United States. "

Mr.Kucinich and others place significant blame on the rating Agencies and Their conflict-ridden business models - They Are Paid by the issuers THEY rate - for Much of the Financial Crisis around mortgage-related securities. The agencies could gold standard ratings on mortgage-related securities Held That increasingly risky home loans while raking in fees from Wall Street banks. Investors Bought Those securities on the Belief That the triple-A rating made &&9;em as safe as United States Treasuries paperless payday loans.

Others, however, say the Agencies May Simply Be forcing Governments, Including the United States, to take Some strong medicine.

"They do see Their job as looking down the road" in Asking That whatever debt deal Struck That IS it addresses the huge United States deficit, Said Cornelius Hurley, director of the Boston University Center for Finance, Law and Policy.

Mr.Riley, a 45-year-old Briton and father of two, HAS Spent The Last Decade inside Fitch Evaluating Governments around the world. He WORKED as a senior economist at UBS Warburg and, That Was Before year adviser inside Britain&&9;s Treasury department.

To Relieve Some of the pressure, says Mr. Riley ET tries to play with Fitch&&9;s soccer team at lunchtime on Tuesdays and occasionally plays That ET PlayStation games with historical 17-year-old sound.

He says HE and His Team Have Developed at Fitch thick skins to deal with the pressure.

"We Know That We&&9;re Under Scrutiny considerable and we want to make sure we do the best and corresponds job That can we can, &&9;he said."We&&9;re doing the work and the analysis, double-checking it and making sure our numbers right We Have."

He Also Does not view the jockeying Being done by global policy makers have overt lobbying efforts to influence or historical decision about a country&&9;s ratings.

"It&&9;s important if we&&9;re Trying to Provide Informed year rating and Commentary That We Understand What policy makers are Trying to Achieve and What Their plans are," Mr. Riley said. He added HE HAD That Had to tell global leaders this year That Their region&&9;s ratings Were Being Downgraded. "That&&9;s Something that&&9;s never Welcomed," Mr. Riley said.

This year the government Fitch Downgraded creditworthiness of Greece, Portugal and Spain. It HAS Ireland was "negative outlook" goal HAS reaffirmed France&&9;s and Italy&&9;s status.

Mr.Riley started to turn more attention to to the American Treasury debt ceiling After the secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, feels a letter to Congress on May 16 alerting members Reached That the country HAD ITS statutory debt limit and Measures That HAD-been taken to Provide cash for the summer. The government HAS Until Aug. 2 to raise the $ 14.3 trillion debt ceiling or Being Able to risk not make payments on some debt icts.

On June 8, Fitch published a report titled: "Thinking the Unthinkable - What if the Debt Ceiling Was Not INCREASED defaulted and the U.S.?" The report Said Was Not if the cap raised in time, Fitch Likely Would the United States could be " rating watch negative. "If a payment was missed Were Treasury security, the security rating is That Could tumble from AAA to B +, the agency warned.

Since then, Mr. Riley Said HE HAD Tried to Avoid the "political theater" around the debt-ceiling talks."We&&9;re not calling the contacts That We Have Inside Washington Asking, &&9;Can You Give us the inside track? Did Obama really walk out of meeting That? " "Mr. Riley Said, Adding:" It Would Be interesting to know, But It&&9;s not falling to us. "

He and His Team Have Held discussions with Treasury Officials on the debt-ceiling issue and on the bigger issue of Reducing the deficit. "The very clear message in our discussions we &&9;ve Heard IS,&&9; no ifs, ands or goals, the U.S. Will not default on debt icts," Mr. Riley said.

"It Is not for us to design the deficit-reduction strategy," Mr. Riley said. "We&&9;re Not Saying That the U.S.Has To Reduce the deficit by Some number, order detail around the STI plan and the Credibility behind how the plan IS going to Be Implemented Actually IS Almost as important as the headline for itself. "

Players in a Greek Drama