Moody’s evaluation of the Portuguese sovereign debt is accurate despite attempts to discredit it, writer and editor Patrick Young told RT.

”Frankly, the business of shooting messengers is not going to get anybody anywhere,” he said. “The EU itself has been dragging its feet for 18 months over problems in Portugal and Greece and the difficulty, therefore, is that the EU has not acted fast enough and has not tried to cure the situation. Moody’s are merely reflecting that.” 

In order to act responsibly, Greece and Portugal should consider selling their gold reserves, Patrick Young believes. 

”If you or I cannot pay our debts, then we have to sell whatever assets we have before we go forward,” he said. “In the case particularly of Portugal, who to a certain degree I sympathize with, because I do not think it has been run as a reckless economy in the course of the last ten years, but nonetheless, they have assets, they can sell.”

”Everyone ultimately gets fed-up with someone who just keeps passing the begging bowl back in their face without comprehensively doing something to try and help the situation,” Young persisted.

“I think it would be a very, very neat thing if Greece were willing to sell their gold reserves because at least that would show some willing to right their economy, to deal with their taxation problems and to deal with the fundamental problem of their public services,” he concluded.