[efarmer]

Moody's and S&P and the lot of them gamed and shamed themselves for years.
This whole recent farce is akin to giving Chicken Little a big shot of Sodium Pentathol and
analyzing every piece of nonsense that flows from his little beak.

When you make value from illusions and shell games, it becomes hard to find real
value when you need some again.

The grifters of New York and Washington as usual have run the nation wealth extraction
pump until the motor burnt out and now they want to show their innocence and stellar
procedural mastery. They couldn't piss a drop of integrity if you held a gun on them
and let the faucet run so they would get in the mood to tinkle...

[Pops]

I certainly can't work up any sympathy for a company who was paid by the banks to evaluate the bank's worthless "instruments" and said those 'assets' were actually worth something.

It makes me mad the originators of the counterfeit paper themselves (the banks that dreamed up the tranches) aren't broke and in jail, along with the title companies and appraisers and mortgage originators. It was all a big scam.


But really, who in their right mind - with any money to invest anyway - thinks that there is a safer investment than US bonds? Seriously?

If the US goes tits-up, the only safe investment is gonna require hearing protection.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I')t makes me mad the originators of the counterfeit paper themselves (the banks that dreamed up the tranches) aren't broke and in jail, along with the title companies and appraisers and mortgage originators. It was all a big scam.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') certainly can't work up any sympathy for a company who was paid by the banks to evaluate the bank's worthless "instruments" and said those 'assets' were actually worth something.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') certainly can't work up any sympathy for a company who was paid by the banks to evaluate the bank's worthless "instruments" and said those 'assets' were actually worth something.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'Y')eah, don't actually fix the problem. Don't have regulations that ensure enough competition, or competent oversight of the ratings agencies.

Just "own" the agencies, and use threats and intimidation if they have the nerve to tell the truth. And of course, scream at them when they screw up -- that way the public may pay less attention to the idiots on Capitol Hill screwing up.
).

[nobodypanic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') certainly can't work up any sympathy for a company who was paid by the banks to evaluate the bank's worthless "instruments" and said those 'assets' were actually worth something.

[nobodypanic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'Y')eah, don't actually fix the problem. Don't have regulations that ensure enough competition, or competent oversight of the ratings agencies.

Just "own" the agencies, and use threats and intimidation if they have the nerve to tell the truth. And of course, scream at them when they screw up -- that way the public may pay less attention to the idiots on Capitol Hill screwing up.
).

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', 'n')ow it's one where the organization they are rating pays them for that rating (issuer based) and the public gets it for free. the conflict of interest is obvious.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') certainly can't work up any sympathy for a company ...