Rating the ratings agencies: FFF and “Watch out”*

The election had hardly moved off media centre stage than we were bombarded by the pontifications of self-styled “ratings agency” Standard & Poor’s. Actually S&P and its like are less agencies than businesses that in a competitive environment assess the creditworthiness of businesses (and more recently governments).

Competition pressures have sometimes resulted in these agencies reporting more favourably on some businesses than the facts might justify. Actually, it has emerged t…

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