Moody's

[p-towne]

Just read that Moody's will upgrade the ratings of Ford and G.M. because of their favorable costs saving contracts with the UAW.
How have these rating Co's gained so much power over Nations-Corp.'s -citizens of the world.
If they downgrade Greece-Italy or any other nation are stock market usually goes to hell. I am well aware of the "New World Order"......."Global Economy"... They did give banks a high rating before the financial collapse. Bribary..abuse of power???

It appears that these rating Co's have to much power and influence over world markets and the decision making process of corp's and investors

[15D]

It is far better to have a private entity such as Moody's perform this kind of service. If they fail to perform the necessary investigation and give out ratings that are not accurate they face possible ramifications of their actions. If they are significantly wrong on enough occasions their assessments will no longer have any value and they will not be able to generate income. With a private entity there always looms the possibility of losing a civil trial on malpractice, something on this scale could result in a class-action lawsuit that bankrupts the company.

Yes, it appears that they did miss the financial markets meltdown. If there wouldn't have been the huge stock sell-off during the late spring or early summer of 2008 it is quite possible that the mortgage industry would not have busted. It could be argued that the mortgage market hasn't fully crumbled yet, Fannie May and Freddie Mac are hemorrhaging money and takes considerable infusions of money from the Fed to stay solvent. I believe these two entities fall under the supervision of the Feds, who also missed the upcoming meltdown.

This leaves us with the choice of a private entity who at some point can be made accountable or with the government who will assert immunity from their incompetence.

[p-towne]

Are they to powerful? They can destroy Co's--Ruin Nations-Change Govt's.
Their system of downgrading is counter productive They can increase operating costs--lower stock Prices Cause massive sell offs.

In Ohio they were sued and the judge threw out the case. Today all three services are being sued in New Mexico They believe they cannot be sued!!

In Germany a co refused their services--Moody downgraded them to junk bonds--The co> lost 174 Mil. in value in hours.( Blackmail?)

They have internal problems with employees questioning their ratings.

Are rating Co's needed today?? Lending institutions-Brokerage firms all have many annalist to follow their customers or potential customers.

A few years back they downgraded 2- 500 Co.s who had record profits for several years?? (CAT & EXXON).

Are they to Powerful??? Are they needed today???

[wallcrusher]

Easily manipulated?.....yes!.....Quick fix?....yes! ......Gold Standard!
.....and some good old fashioned failure!

[p-towne]

Interesting: Who should fail and why??

[15D]

Easily manipulated?.....yes!.....Quick fix?....yes! ......Gold Standard!
.....and some good old fashioned failure!

I'd hate to see us go back to the Gold Standard. One of the unintended consequences would be the lack of currency needed to perform daily transactions. There was a time in our history were the lack of currency actually made it nearly impossible to buy anything. People resulted to bartering with other products or services because the amount of currency that was in circulation amounted to less than a day's pay per person.

One of the reasons people with money to invest would like the Gold Standard is because it artificially increases the actual value of the currency. The old supply and demand principle.

[15D]

Interesting: Who should fail and why??

That indeed is a difficult decision. If the alternative to propping up a country is the starving masses invade their neighbors, a very real possibility with North Korea, then the argument could be made that it is the lesser of the two evils.