How much power have these people got ?

[Bugsy]

Fitch& Co

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16226543

Send the Army in and shut them all down would be a start.

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[pachapapa]

You are talking about the  french army, of course.

[idun]

All the credit rating companies have enormous power. Whether it for the little people or governments. I'd heard of them, but hadn't realised the POWER until we moved back to England and then our credit rating came into play as they had never affected our lives before.

How and why they are allowed to have this power is something I do not understand. I can think of little good reason for it. The banks have mis loaned money even with this system, so why have it.?

 

 

[pachapapa]

[quote user="pachapapa"]You are talking about the  french army, of course.[/quote]

There was a certain degree of "seriousity" in the above post, that said let me introduce you to the "patron" of Fitch ratings.

Mark ladreit de la lacharrière.

http://www.zonebourse.com/barons-bourse/Marc-De-Lacharriere-8/biographie/

Oh and his company FIMALAC.

http://www.zonebourse.com/FIMALAC-4648/

[Salty Sam]

Their power for what it's worth, failed to prophesy the collapse of the banking system.

Messrs Fitch & Co, S&P, etc, are just as culpable as the big name banks, and far from being  squeaky clean in their own right.

[Racerbear02]

It would be interesting to find out exactly who benefits financially from their actions or threats of actions.

I am sure that they are all totally beyond reproach !!

Non the less I would love to know WHO is making money out of this mess, for sure someone is somewhere at the expense of the rest of the world.

[Wilko]

How do the rating agencies get paid ?

W

[Quillan]

[quote user="Racerbear02"]It would be interesting to find out exactly who benefits financially from their actions or threats of actions. I am sure that they are all totally beyond reproach !! Non the less I would love to know WHO is making money out of this mess, for sure someone is somewhere at the expense of the rest of the world.[/quote]

Well according to the Emmy award winning documentary/film called Inside Job by Charles H. Ferguson they are not. He interviewed, on camera loads of people, very high up people, and I mean very. He also included the filmed parts of the Senate Committee investigation (still being carried out) in to the likes of this lot.

Briefly this is how it works. Your a bank, or a country, you go to somewhere like Harvard Business School and you pay two 'respected' professors of economics to write the most brilliant report on your bank/country with words like "your money is totally safe" and "best economic bank/country in the world". You then trot along to one of these agencies and pay them some more money and hand over the two reports you had written. They give you a triple A plus rating, you get a shed load of money put in your bank that you then 'have away' or pay off creditors (unlikely) weeks later the banks and country collapse. This is exactly what happened in Iceland. Now if of course this was all a load of rubbish then you would expect Iceland (and a load of others he names) to be lining up to sue the pants of him yet nothing as ever happened. The great get out of jail for these agencies is they say something like "It's only our opinion based on the information we have been given and we might be wrong". Moral of story, everyone has their price.

[Chancer]

I take it bugsy that you dont agree with or approve of the agencys downward rating of France.

I am interested to know if you think it should be better or worse or perhaps not change at all?

[Bugsy]

If you read the article they haven't actually downgraded the AAA rating of France, just changed their status to negative.

What I find incredible is that, at best dubious businesses like these can, effectively, scupper a whole country. Its made even worse when it is a fact that money changes hands behind the scenes.

Its just obscene and corrupt, allegedly ;)

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