UK downgraded from AAA to AA1 by Moody's...

[Workingman]

So what? It is about time a country took these self-elected NYSE listed companies on. The US government has done so with Standard and Poor's.

Ignore them, challenge them, and if it can be proved that their unfounded ratings damaged an economy then sue them. And if any economics experts and journalists support them, sue them as well.

[Aggers]

You're in a sueing mood, aren't you, Frank?

[Workingman]

I certainly am Aggers.

These agencies have been so wrong in the past that they have no credibility, yet the spivs and speculators use them to fiddle the markets to their own ends.

All in it together... these guys are, in their favour.

[cromwell]

I certainly am Aggers.

These agencies have been so wrong in the past that they have no credibility, yet the spivs and speculators use them to fiddle the markets to their own ends.

I agree Frank.
"Speculators" are also being partly blamed for the recent rises in the price of petrol.
I wonder how long it will be before they start "speculating" on the price of bread and milk?

You can see how people start to think that maybe communism isn't all bad.

[Aggers]

You can see how people start to think that maybe communism isn't all bad.

No, it isn't all bad IF it's run fairly and honestly - but neither is capitalism.

The biggest curse of modern society is greed, which currupts any system.

[Workingman]

The biggest curse of modern society is greed, which currupts any system.

And those in the money markets are the greediest of the lot. Their only reason for living is to make money, lots of it, and they do not give a damn about who gets hurt in the process.

On the TV this morning Vince Cable described the ratings agancies as 'background noise'. Vince is wrong. These tipsters, these friends of spivs and speculators, are hugely influential and the results of their ratings impact on the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Why so much credence is given to them, when they rated the toxic products that were part of the financial crisis as AAA, is a mystery. It is even more mysterious when they only rate each other as down in the lower regions of the B range.

[Suff]

I read an article quite a while back which sated that as the $ is the reserve currency of the world, when the US was downgraded, the rest of the world was automatically downgraded too.

Pretty soon the whole ratings agency thing will become a farce as they become less and less important in the scheme of things. In the end it will come down to wealth, power and influence. The rest is unimportant. Just as the US has shown and most of the more powerful and influential countries have shown.

Of course the smaller, less powerful and less influential, countries, will be punished for the excesses of their larger neighbours. Such is life.... Yawn, move on...