The Rating Game: PowerPoints and Emails Illustrate the Play-For-Play "Agencies" Scheme

By Richard Eskow

Created 08/06/2011 - 1:22pm

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(Reposted from May of last year to commemorate the S&P "downgrade." The "agency" scams have since spent millions in lobbying money to weaken and delay the Franken Amendment and other urgently needed reforms.)

PowerPoints, emails, and transcripts obtained by Sen. Carl Levin's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations illustrate the real magnitude of Sen. Al Franken's victory today. Sen. Franken was able to pass an amendment which eliminates the conflict of interest that's created when ratings agencies "compete for business." It passed the Senate in a 64/35 vote - and it was a bipartisan victory, no less, with 10 Republicans joining 54 Dems to support it.

Here's how broken our current system has become: Not only are the ratings agencies competing as for-profit businesses, but our two largest agencies are publicly traded companies. That means they don't just worry about making a profit. They also have to worry about impressing the stock market on a quarterly basis to boost their stock prices and further enrich their executives. And who influences stock prices the most? Traders on Wall Street, who are also the agencies' customer base and the objects of their scrutiny.