The roles and motives of the big three rating agencies need to be reconsidered
Followingtheglobalfinancialcrisisin2008,ratingagenciesMoody’s,Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratingscameunderthelimelight.Theyweredeeplyimplicatedinthesub-primemortgagecrisis―highratingsofmanyriskysub-primedebtsblindedinvestors,touchingoffthecrisis.Inrecentyears,theyhaveloweredtheratingsofdebtsinPIGS countries―Portugal,Ireland, Greeceand Spain―andthreatenedtothrow moreEuropean debts into the “junk” pile.
The alarms they sounded not only havehidden the real problems behind the globalfinancial crisis, but also are hindering ef-fortsto alleviatethe euro-zone sovereigndebt crisis. So it all begs the question: Arerating agencies more angelic or demonic innature? Either way,their behavior needtobe reconsidered.
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