The United States government needs to take steps to preserve its top AAA-rating...
..."It is very important for the credit standing of the United States that the Congress considers very carefully what the fiscal commission proposes," John Chambers, chairman of S&P's sovereign rating committee, was quoted as saying.
"It is very important for Congress to take the required steps."
S&P...has repeatedly warned about the gigantic deficit and the debt burden in the world's biggest economy, calling it a challenge for the government.
...the U.S. does not have unlimited fiscal flexibility and the best-case scenario for the U.S. would be for its debt-GDP ratio to peak at around 80 percent, although there was a chance it could exceed 100 percent.
...On Tuesday, S&P cut Ireland's long-term rating by one notch to 'AA-', the fourth highest investment grade, and assigned the country a negative outlook saying the cost to the government of supporting the financial sector had increased significantly.
Reuters
Showing posts with label Ratings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ratings. Show all posts
8/28/10
USA, AAA?
3/16/09
Why would fixed income managers and lenderswant to base investment decisions on debt quality assessmentsof ratings firms remunerated from sales?
Why, more than a year into the crisis
do regulators and investors continue to rely on ratings?
No one has been more wrong than [two ratings agencies]
Less than a year ago both gave high ratings
to 11 of the largest distressed financial institutions…
…They rated Lehman Brothers an A just a month before it collapsed
Until recently, the agencies maintained AAA ratings
on thousands of nearly worthless subprime-related securities
Jerome Fons and Frank Partnoy
Rated F for Failure
New York Times, March 16, 2009
Via The Big Picture
Why did so many who shouldn’t have
believe sub-prime mortgages could be repackaged into bonds
with similar credit risk characteristics as AAA US Treasuries?
These errors make us look either incompetent at credit analysis
or like we sold our soul to the devil for revenue or a little bit of both
A rating agency managing director
responding anonymously to an internal management survey
September 2007
Why would a ratings agency change relatively negative views to positive
on some mortgage backed securities
even though no new and significant information emerged?
Employee #1 By the way, that deal is ridiculous
Employee #2 I know, that model definitely does not capture half the risk
#1 We should not be rating it
#2 We rate every deal
It could be structured by cows and we would rate it
Instant Message conversation between two rating agency employees
Why would the Securities and Exchange Commission
let banks base capital requirements on ratings derived by companies
dependent on the same firms for future revenue?
Why would fixed income managers and lenderswant to base investment decisions on debt quality assessmentsof ratings firms remunerated from sales?
Why, more than a year into the crisis
do regulators and investors continue to rely on ratings?
No one has been more wrong than [two ratings agencies]
Less than a year ago both gave high ratings
to 11 of the largest distressed financial institutions…
…They rated Lehman Brothers an A just a month before it collapsed
Until recently, the agencies maintained AAA ratings
on thousands of nearly worthless subprime-related securities
Jerome Fons and Frank Partnoy
Rated F for Failure
New York Times, March 16, 2009
Via The Big Picture
Why did so many who shouldn’t have
believe sub-prime mortgages could be repackaged into bonds
with similar credit risk characteristics as AAA US Treasuries?
These errors make us look either incompetent at credit analysis
or like we sold our soul to the devil for revenue or a little bit of both
A rating agency managing director
responding anonymously to an internal management survey
September 2007
Why would a ratings agency change relatively negative views to positive
on some mortgage backed securities
even though no new and significant information emerged?
Employee #1 By the way, that deal is ridiculous
Employee #2 I know, that model definitely does not capture half the risk
#1 We should not be rating it
#2 We rate every deal
It could be structured by cows and we would rate it
Instant Message conversation between two rating agency employees
Why would the Securities and Exchange Commission
let banks base capital requirements on ratings derived by companies
dependent on the same firms for future revenue?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)