Matt Taibbi's Blockbuster Cover Story Exposes Key Culprits in Financial Crash

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/financial-ratings-agencies-were-complicit-2008-economic-crash



Anyone who paid attention to the financial collapse of 2008 knows that the ratings agencies who are the arbiters of whether companies are a safe bet to take on debt played a big role. Less known are the exact details of how big a role they played. The Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi fills in the gaps in a blockbuster cover story.

Taibbi’s new piece, titled “The Last Mystery of the Financial Crisis,” shows in detail the role of the ratings agencies and how they rubber-stamped dubious bank transactions. The agencies Taibbi focuses on are the nation’s top two: S&P and Moody’s, which control a good chunk of the ratings agency market. Ratings agencies define what is safe to put money in and what is not. Their ratings are vitally important to the financial industry. But instead of evaluating companies objectively and giving them the ratings they deserve, Moody’s and S&P doled out top ratings to entities that were undeserving.

The new details Taibbi writes on come from documents and e-mails released as part of a lawsuit against the ratings agencies that alleged they conspired with Morgan Stanley to induce investment in subprime deals.

In April, the ratings agencies settled the lawsuit brought against them, with King County, Washington and the Abu Dhabi Commercial bank being the lead plaintiffs. The case centered on what’s known as a structured investment vehicle, or SIV.

[ReRe]

1. Here's the direct link Matt Taibbi's article:

Last edited Tue Jun 25, 2013, 08:43 AM - Edit history (1)

K&R

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-last-mystery-of-the-financial-crisis-20130619


*Edited: to kick

[xchrom]

4. +1

[vt_native]

2. I hope Matt's car doesn't do a Ford Pinto

Sorry, young people, look it up!

Like Michael Hastings' car did. Dangerous to challenge these freaks.

Just ask Client #9, who managed to escape with his life.

[ReRe]

5. Taibbi needs to...

... get himself an old jalopy with no computer/black box, and roll up/down windows in it... Like the one Columbo (Peter Faulk) drove in the TV series.

[Lunacee_2013]

9. I get what you mean wrt the ford pinto remark,

but who is client #9?

[theaocp]

11. Elliott Spitzer n/t

[Lunacee_2013]

22. Thanks, now I know what you mean.

[HiPointDem]

3. just arrest the entire ruling class, already. they rig everything, they're all fraudsters.

[ReRe]

7. ;-) That's right...

... round 'em all up and throw in those for-profit prisons.

[WovenGems]

8. Eerie

We are stating to look a lot like the French did just prior to their revolution. And remember how the peasants solved the problem?

[nineteen50]

15. and the USSR that crashed because of

absolute cronyism and corruption at the top you would have thought we would have learned from that instead of listening to ronnie rayguns.

[ReRe]

16. I can't use emticons right now...

... I should have put "sarcasm" by it. Sorry. I thought it was a rather funny joke.

Hey, since you brought it up, don't you know the 1% makes jokes like this about the rabble 99%?

Who knows? Maybe we ARE approaching our 2nd revolution? Won't happen in my life time.

Life in America is pretty EERIE right now. Wouldn't you agree?

[emsimon33]

23. Been thinking the same thing!

Down to the 7th generation.

[Enthusiast]

17. That would be a disaster!

Those are the job creators you speak of.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Problem is, they also own the people who should arrest them.

Congress, judges, etc.

[Octafish]

19. BINGO!

The government once was the referee that kept the game honest.

Now they're the crooked refs who make sure the game turns out the way the Mafia wants.

[malaise]

6. K & R n/t

[cantbeserious]

10. K & R

eom

[Civilization2]

12. Organized criminal activity gets zero investigations or prosecutions. Where is the oversight?

“Given a choice between money and integrity, they took the money.”

Keep your wealth away from Wall St. out of corporate investments of any kind. Invest in people you know, invest in your community, in the farmers that produce your food, in the local wind/solar farm that produces your energy.

Degrowth, Slow Money, Permaculture, Relocalize, etc.

The Corporate System is rife with corruption and organized scamming, with ZERO policing by our governments. The whole system is based on the lie of endless growth and this is not possible on a finite planet, the music stops eventually and some "investors" are left with nothing while some banksters always seem to be loading up on wealth. Wonder why that is eh.

[marmar]

13. k/r

[WillyT]

14. K & R !!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. The beauty of Taibbi is

how he breaks the complicated bits down to understandable bites.

[frylock]

25. he's like the Michio Kaku of poli-sci!

[byeya]

21. Good for Taibbi except I don't think Moodys and S&P should be called "agencies" - they are private

companies that do ratings for fees,aren't they?
I think it's a conflict of interest, or one in waiting, for a corporation(say) to hire Standard and Poors to rate a bond offering and then pay them for this rating. I would think S&P would tend to give a higher rating because they need the repeat business.

[RainDog]

24. k&r n/t

[liberal_at_heart]

26. when are we going to start prosecuting these bastards?

[trumad]

27. Every time I see a Tiabbi mention---

I fade back to the old days when Super Troll Banned by Kos roamed our halls.

[smokey nj]

28. If you listen real hard, you can still hear the faint, ghostly cries of "Bank griefer!"

whenever someone links to a piece by Matt Taibbi.