Moody's is not a dot.com, but is one of the big three rating agencies in the US with a long history of providing debt ratings for both sovereign and corporate issues.
It is a for profit business, selling its services to buy-side institutions and firms, and the sell-siders who want to know how and why their paper is costing them more, or less, than the next guy's. As is always the case, money talks, and most of the time it says "I want more." So what happened with the telecom analysts, flacking good reports, in exchange for their kids admission into pre school, to the accounting firms, cooking books on the Food Channel for Worldcom, Enron, happened with the rating companies-- co-branding the CDO's for a price. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Perelman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:30 PM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies They do get their income from setting ratings. I just looked at Moody's which is a dot.com, I doubt that they are non-profit. On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 02:44:12PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote: > To be fair to the ratings agencies, they don't get money directly out > of setting ratings (I think they're not-for-profit). They aren't > conpeople as much as they don't want to rock the boat. > > On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The first quote is ridiculous. The agencies didn't just fail to warn > > investors, they conned them. > > > > Sabri Oncu wrote: > > > > > > Rating agencies hit by subprime probe > > > By Tobias Buck in Brussels > > > > > > Officials in Brussels, and many other critics, believe the ratings agencies > > > failed to act quickly enough to warn investors about the risks of investing in > > > securities backed by US subprime mortgages - the sector whose troubles > > > triggered the recent global market volatility. > > -- > > > > Michael Perelman > > Economics Department > > California State University > > michael at ecst.csuchico.edu > > Chico, CA 95929 > > 530-898-5321 > > fax 530-898-5901 > > www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com > > > > > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own > way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
