US may lose top credit rating

[BlasterBates]

Standard & Poor

ooooh...

Gold up.

[russell]

Standard & Poor

ooooh...

Gold up.

Is this the same rating agency that had Lehmans at AAA a week before they went bust? When asked about this they say "Our rating is just an opinion, we don't advise you make any financial decisions based on it".

[Mich the Tester]

Is this the same rating agency that had Lehmans at AAA a week before they went bust? When asked about this they say "Our rating is just an opinion, we don't advise you make any financial decisions based on it".

I wonder what will happen to ratings agencies if they downgrade US debt?

[ThomasSoerensen]

I agree with you all that the rating agencies are incompetent and corrupt and are one of the major causes of the current crisis.
And nobody should be surprised about this change in attitude as the US debt is nothing new.

But "the market" (sheep like analysis etc.) react to the news and thus create the market turbulense.

So even if it is now news to us and we don't give the agencies any credibility we still have to keep an eye on them as many others react to this "news" and cause changes that affect us.

The changes they cause are in the bond, currency and equity markets mostly and they do affect the value of our savings and debts and value of our houses.

My biggest question is why the ratings agencies have not yet been put on trial for their "alchemy" with sub prime mortgages.

My advise to you all, study the mechanics of finance and look out for yourself. Noone else will.

[Mich the Tester]

My advise to you all, study the mechanics of finance and look out for yourself. Noone else will.

Worthwhile advice, but rather a sad state of affairs. I don't need to study engineering to buy a decent, safe car or a good washing machine, and I shouldn't need to study medicine to check up whether my doctor's bulltulipting me; ergo, the banking 'profession' needs to get its ******* act together.

[ThomasSoerensen]

Worthwhile advice, but rather a sad state of affairs. I don't need to study engineering to buy a decent, safe car or a good washing machine, and I shouldn't need to study medicine to check up whether my doctor's bulltulipting me; ergo, the banking 'profession' needs to get its ******* act together.

They don't "need" to get their act together. They are doing just fine. That is part of the problem for you and me.

[Mich the Tester]

They don't "need" to get their act together. They are doing just fine. That is part of the problem for you and me.

Yep; I'm just wondering whether a drop in the US credit rating would cause teh US government to go apetulip and start throwing all sorts of regulation at the ratings agencies.

[ThomasSoerensen]

Yep; I'm just wondering whether a drop in the US credit rating would cause teh US government to go apetulip and start throwing all sorts of regulation at the ratings agencies.

I don't think they will. All the Goldman boys on the inside of the White house are making a killing on this volatility.

[AtW]

Yep; I'm just wondering whether a drop in the US credit rating would cause teh US government to go apetulip and start throwing all sorts of regulation at the ratings agencies.

You mean like making those agencies responsible for their ratings, ie if they say something is good then they cover all losses from failure, and if they say something is bad but it turns out to be ok then they cover losses of whoever they rated down?

There should not be any place for rating agencies at all - every bank, investor should do their own job, hire their own analysts and make their own decision. With a handful of agencies they hold power to change market for no good reasons.