The Reckoning - Debt Watchdogs - Tamed or Caught Napping? - Series - NYTimes.com: "Since the subprime mortgage troubles exploded into a full-blown financial crisis last year, the three top credit-rating agencies — Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings — have faced a firestorm of criticism about whether their rosy ratings of mortgage securities generated billions of dollars in losses to investors who relied on them.
The agencies are supposed to help investors evaluate the risk of what they are buying. But some former employees and many investors say the agencies, which were paid far more to rate complicated mortgage-related securities than to assess more traditional debt, either underestimated the risk of mortgage debt or simply overlooked its danger so they could rake in large profits during the housing boom."
It really is entertaining to listen to right wing commentators blame J. Carter and poor people for the current economic mess we are in. The above article explores maybe, just maybe, a few others were involved. And, I think AM Best had AIG rated as AAA+ until...? well probably until the taxpayers of the U.S. stepped up (or were pushed by GWB) to bail them out.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
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