S&P Faces Inquiry Over Mortgage Security Ratings By NPR Staff and Wires | August 18, 2011 Excerpts: The Justice Department is investigating whether Standard & Poor's improperly boosted ratings on mortgage securities that later turned out to be toxic, helping trigger the worst financial crisis in decades. NPR has confirmed the investigation, first reported Wednesday by The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported a separate probe of the agency by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sources familiar with the probe told NPR on Thursday that the Department of Justice has an open civil investigation of S&P that began before the credit rating agency's controversial decision earlier this month to downgrade U.S. sovereign debt. S&P, Moody's and Fitch have reaped profits from securities firms whose mortgage bonds they rated, but the agencies have always maintained that their analysts act independently from business concerns. In the wake of the financial crisis, that claim could face renewed scrutiny if the government uncovers evidence that managers leaned on analysts to burnish the ratings. The Justice Department investigation began before S&P cut the United States' AAA credit rating earlier this month, the first-ever downgrade on U.S. debt. Some government officials have since questioned the agency's secretive process, its credibility and the competence of its analysts, claiming to have found an error in its debt calculations. "The allegations were made that banks went about and effectively shopped rating agencies to make sure that they could secure the highest possible rating to make sure that their debt would be sold at the best possible price," he said. Read full article: http://www.npr.org/2011/08/18/139745796/s-p-faces-inquiry-over-mortgage-security-ratings . IMO: This is an ongoing investigation of S&P's business dealings with the banks to ensure the highest profit from the mortgage bonds they rated. That their fraudulent ratings caused the big financial contractions of 2007-2008 and that they should have informed Congress of the mismatch in profit and quality of the bonds they rated before the financial contraction. In the aftermath of S&Ps recent downgrading of Americas credit rating and their huge math error, the Department of Justice is now investigating if the downgrading was in fact, political rather than factual in nature. Even after being made aware of their mistake, S&P refused to change their downgrade of Americas full faith and credit and put it as an incompetent radical group within Congress that refused to negotiate at all, that with the current group in Congress no further interaction to lower our deficit could be successful. While this is true, it serves more as an excuse than a forthright reason for lowering the credit rating of the United States. I surmise that many questions and discrepancies will emerge as this investigation of S&P continues with a resulting ruling that S&P will ultimately receive a low rating from America.
WOW.... Dontcha just love thug politics.... Obama is a complete failure, there can no longer be any doubt....
From the actual article, right there in the OP. Right there for you to read and not be wrong. The Justice Department investigation began before S&P cut the United States' AAA credit rating earlier this month, the first-ever downgrade on U.S. debt. Some government officials have since questioned the agency's secretive process, its credibility and the competence of its analysts, claiming to have found an error in its debt calculations.
Get Real.... S&P told them we needed 4 trillion in cuts over 10 years, and democrats only allowed 1.5 trillion. They told em before the downgrade. Its thug politics, and it ignores the real problems, like spending money we dont have....
I am sorry, but your augment is not fact based. It is highly partisan and blatantly disregards the proof that has been put in front of you showing you are wrong.
I still dont see any facts, and Im not that stupid nor gullible. Obama and Pals dont like reality so theyre gonna punish the messenger.
It would be a coincidence if they were investigating Moody's and Fitch, but that's not what's happening is it. Shades of Nixon trying to use the IRS as an punishing tool.
Well of course S&P incorrectly boosted the ratings. We have a three agency cartel that makes money by giving these higher ratings.
THIS is how it works in Chicago. Equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum after being irresponsible. Once again, the left disagreeing with being held to the consequences of their actions.
The facts provided? Which are statements from the same organization who bears the responsibility of the downgrade, now taking action against those who put forth the downgrade. Those facts? Laughable.
I know exactly who is to blame.... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5qKYfqALE"]Barney Frank in 2005: What Housing Bubble? - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Mazjm_A5k"]Barney Frank: Plenty of rich people that we can tax - YouTube[/ame]
I'd really like to meet some of the people that continue to re-elect some like Bawney when he is so consistently wrong so many times.
..... 1) The 'thug politics' come consistently from your side. On this forum, the one-liner 'zingers' come straight out of the republican/T-baggers' repertoire. 2) Are you saying that you have had doubts about President Obama's successes and/or failures? After your hero GW's accomplishments during his tenure, it would take real hypocracy for any republican/T-bagger to criticize any other president....
Their "Huge math error" was 2 trillion dollars OVER TEN YEARS. They were off by 2 trillion dollars over a 10 year period. (*)(*)(*)(*), the CBO does that on a DAILY basis. This just goes to show the private companies of the world, if you don't play ball with the gubermint that they will go after you with their congressional hearings and what not.
Also, the government was entirely ok with this stuff when it was politically beneficial to have a "booming" economy. Now all of a sudden someone needs to get blamed and it sure as hell isn't going to be Washington.
...... 1) President Obama offered $4.5Trillion over ten years, which the republicans/T-baggers would not accept....but they accepted $2.4 Trillion in the end. What a sham, charade, and fiasco by the republicans/T-baggers in Congress. 2) Wrong...The Department of Justice had already started investigations into S&P long before the T-baggers came into town, and long before the debt- ceiling-raise "stall" was in place. Read the article again. Especially about the S&P's unethical negotiations on use of the questionable bonds with the banks to get the largest profit...sounds like a Ponzi scheme to me... and that was in the GW Bush administration.....
This has all the earmarks of an investigation that was on the back burner with low priority suddenly being put on the front burner with high priority. I wonder what Standard & Poor could have done to cause that change in priority by Justice? It couldn't have been to annoy the Obama administration with their ratings downgrade for the USA, could it? This smacks of the sort of tactics Putin's Russia uses when a business annoys them. Do we really want to copy a semi-criminal semi-dictatorship? Apparently we do.
It's easy to promise what will never happen. The Democrats pulled that scam in 1990. The tax hikes took place immediately and the spending cuts never did. Obama didn't expect the Republicans would fall for that again. Please post a link to the details of Obama's $4.5 Trillion in cuts.
What does that have to do with the fact that it was a small error? 4.5 Trillion over ten years is peanuts in cuts...so is 2.4 trillion. You want a ponzi scheme? Look at Social Security.
