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And The Surreal Morphs Into The Tragi-Pathetic: Portugal Opens Criminal Inquiry Into Rating Agencies
Just a ROFL-inducing headline from Bloomberg for now:
- PORTUGAL OPENS CRIMINAL INQUIRY INTO RATING AGENCIES
Are blogs next?
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Speaking the truth has always been dangerous.....
Maybe that's why they avoided it so carefully in their CDO ratings?
I think Ratings Agencies are responsible for global warming, myself.
Global cooling too.
And obesity.
And CANCER.
I'm still waiting for
ERIC HOLDER OPENS CRIMINAL INQUIRY INTO APMEX
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/05/obama-turns-sister-11-victim-...
The real enquiry should be into the fools who followed them...
WAR!!!!!!
Why are these commies complaining about rating agencies? They're the ones who gave them a monoploy by setting up barriers to competition. Plus, if a rating agency repeatedly gives inaccurate ratings you don't have to listen to them. It's just an opinion!
Real truth tellers, those ratings agencies.
I expect to see a few ZeroHedgers jerking off the banker-gangsters, because that's how they can afford man-purses and manicures, but the ratings agencies?
For real?
I'm sure all the pensioners who lost their ass on piles of shit that these fucking getaway drivers rated AAA agree with you.
See..there is no honesty among thieves..
Picture the next phase of European austerity as a beauty competition with pigs using lipsticks where mirrors are banned and things become clear.
Amazing.....You don't like the ratings....just criminalize them.....
That's why nations should not issue debt into currency. It's sovereignity is sold to debt holders.
Yay, the world isn't totally 100% evil just yet. Sue those American facist rating agency scum.
Not that anything coming out of the U.S. has any credibility what-so-ever anymore.
just 1 blog
The ratings agencies have been so accurate and so resistant to corruption and buy-offs (hello, Fitch and your beaut on Abicus), this is surely Portugal attempting to merely sling mud and see where it sticks.
All that mortgage backed paper originated in 2002 through 2007 is AAA+, damnit, because Moody's, S&P and Fitch SAID SO!!!!!!!!
S&P, Moody's and Fitch are all incredibly accurate and impervious to being bought and paid for, so deal with it, Portugal!
/sarc
Pre-emptive strike after watching Greece getting a wedgie.
"Come at me Bro!"
-- Portugal Attorney General Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro
is it to early to start drinking?
That's like asking, is it too early to be having a good time? Drink a beer!
We can B long distance drinking buddies.
It's always 5 o'clock somewhere in THE world. Have à happy hour!
Nope. Just finished off my scotch. Got to go to the store to get something. I'm thinking some Patron - and more scotch, of course.
Not sure why you are put off, Tyler. I mean just this morning, the criminal syndicate Wall Street class of kleptocrats seemed quite clear that it was only a matter of lining up the political class before the print infinity Euro loans program would be in full stride.
And in that case, maybe the ratings agencies should be investigated so that the reasons behind why they are not on board with the criminal syndicate Wall Street infinity loan class might be revealed.
Could it be that the ratings agencies do NOT want to be thrown under the bus again?
Tyler's probably taken a major short position against the Euro.
Just like they did last year, the insolvent banker-gangsters are again trying to leverage the Euro into the tank. And like last year, the ratings agencies carry their water.
Right. That's their evil dastardly yankee imperialist plan.
To bring the euro down and the dollar up so that German exports flood into the US and the US economy comes to a screeching halt with a strong dollar (I'm being ironic in case it doesn't show)
The banker-gangsters who tried to bring the Euro to parity last year and are at it again now don't give a good god damn about imports, exports, or anything real other than the profits they make on their paper shuffling in the casino.
The real economy is irrelevant, or even problematic to the opium addicts.
The only way to save the dollar, even temporarily, is to crash the Euro.
Sorry, I have no love lost for the banksters and I have no illusions regarding them.
However, I don't buy the euro takedown story much in vogue in Europe. In fact it was easy to predict the euro would implode if one can see past the ideology and realise how untenable the whole currency union without political union experiment is.
I'm not saying the banksters wouldn't want to crash the euro too but
a) The EU doesn't need any outside help to bring about its collapse. It's doing a fine job on its own.
b) If you look at the correlation between the SPX and the euro you'll notice the risk on trade (which includes higher euro) actually benefits the banksters.
Just my opinion.
It also helps the QE3 case quite a bit.
True. But I think that's farther out in time.
It's too soon.
Tyler asked: "Are blogs next?"
Yes. Make certain you use a condom which doesn't break, Tyler. You don't want that joke of "Law Enforcement" called Interpol after you.
++
Well of course the ratings agencies are corrupt kickback crooks everyone knows it, why would an investigation be needed?
In this case, the answer is because they are not walking lock step with the criminal syndicate Wall Street kleptocrats. They don't seem to be down with the print infinity loan program from the PIGS.
Investigate away...
All they need to do is flip their algos to negative correlation. Then they could upgrade in response to more printing.
The Western World seems very keen to try and criminalize anything that doesn't correspond with the government's best interest. This is bullish news indeed. We are on the slippery slope.
The raters should be in jail for the fraud they perpetrated throughout the 2000s, and here you are carrying water for them.
Must be proud of yourself ...
ah but what about the gov'ts role in the fraud? So who should prosecute the criminal ratings agencies? And it isn't until they call into question the credit worthiness of the government itself that gov'ts call for investigations. I doubt anyone here is carrying water for the ratings agencies.... more pointing out the absurdity.
Bloody awesome. Slow and steady escalation as the fraud continues to be ignored, currency wars, trade wars, protectionism and WWIII. Bring it.
Not just Currency Wars, but now a Currency Civil War.
rating agencies are definitely guilty...
of holding such artificially high ratings for so long.
ratings of the U.S. and other bankrupt nations.
Didn't greece catch zerohedge in criminal blogging?
You fucking criminals. You should be ashamed.
Nobody forces anybody to listen, and if they can they can alway prove it isn't so.
Freedom of speech is à bitch!
THE greeks complained about THE same bastards who said shag was not supposed to be said
Nobody forces anybody to listen, and if they can they can alway prove it isn't so.
Freedom of speech is à bitch!
Relentless application of a quiet coercion leading to compliance
sweet!
ORi
Well, this looks like the classic "Stop airing my dirty laundry, else I'm going to air yours!"
There a couple of versions of this trick, depending on who has the strong hand at the table. Either (the criminals d.b.a. as) Portugal believe that they have the upper hand due to being a sovereign with the ability to influence business within its borders, combined with the idea that the agencies may have more dirt, and thus more to lose.
Or, the criminals are so weak handed they have nothing to lose by threatening to destroy the whole charade known as the "financial ratings" industry.
Yes, the financial terrorists are threatening us again. Support our fraud, or, or, or... ...things will be really bad. All we have to fear, is fear itself people.
Look sell at eod
NObody expects the Portuguese inquisition!!
Welcome moodies. Please try the heroine salted cod at your next audit session.
If that doesn't work then we can offer 5% of whatever money we print as a gift in exchange for ratings
But warren gives 6 percent. Not really he gives 4 percent. But we can get 6 percent out of you we can cut warrens down to 3 percent.
LOL--i wrote earlier that greece would start arresting raters and banksters. portugal beat them to it!
i'm still confused re: does portugal have a goobermint, right now, or not? did they come back?
blogs next? sure! free speech legal? where, except h-e-r-e?
The IMF, World Bank and ECB (all one and the same, anyways) want to securitize the finest meats and pork sausages from Portugal, they want gold, and of course, they want land (including toll roads, toll bridges, and other strategic 'assets' and revenue producing real estate) in order to 'bail Portugal out.'
"Your money or your life!"
"Our money or your life."
The financial sector of the world economy remains a cancer that the productive sectors (those that actually produce things of real value) of the world economy can no longer sustain. Now things get interesting. Possession remains 9/10 ths of the law (even more so now). Got physical? Crash the system already. The sooner we do, the sooner compensation will return to those who are actually worth a shit.
Tyler,
There's something you must know about Portugal to understand these silly dynamics.
Basically since the 1974 carnation revolution it has been a socialist country. In fact many of the prosecutors and judges are/were? die hard communists. If you say in Lisbon that you lean to the right, most people will look at you funny.
Thus, if the whole political spectrum is skewed to the left (one of the 4 plaintiffs that led to this inquiry is actually a member of the Left Bloc party), it doesn't take much of an imagination to see that the most expedient narrative is to blame speculators, those evil uncaring markets and the corrupt ratings agencies (ok, there's a valid point here in that they are incompetent and corrupt, but they're not the reason for Portugal's woes).
The current socialist PM (as corrupt as they come) has been playing the evil markets and the evil ratings agencies card every chance he gets. He presents himself as some kind of hero throwing his body in front of the oncoming runaway truck from the evil speculators (cue Rocky music). Sadly this is quite effective because most people in Portugal are prejudiced against markets (a leftover from the carnation revolution days when a communist government actually took control briefly), so it jives nicely with their own preconceived ideas.
I think this whole exercise is for show and to score political points with an uneducated electorate. And let's not forget it's much easier to blame someone else (specially an evil speculating faceless foreigner) than to take responsibility for the mess you created.
I think this whole exercise is for show and to score political points
There have been no political developments in the past 40 years the world that were not for show and to hide what the left hand is doing
True.
That's why we're in the mess we're in.
Long gone are the days of Churchill and De Gaulle.
Now we have these B movie actors like Sarkozy and Socrates (Portuguese PM).
*sigh*
It's only a crime if one is not a Fascist insider exempt from criminal law . In the USA the ratings agencies are exempt from criminal law under the guise of free speech to benefit their corrupt masters. Depending on the extent of corruption in Portugal will determine if the exemption from criminal law for ratings agencies will be applied in Portugal.
Is that a trick question?
The current Portuguese PM is as corrupt as they get.
Check out just this one example (http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2009/03/freeport-dvd-that-is-not-evidence.html) of many corruption charges where he magically gets off scot free. In this video that a british businessman secretly recorded, you can hear them clearly state how they'd paid millions in bribes to the then environment minister Jose Socrates (now the PM that will go down in history for having bankrupted the country in a few short years). He comes from a humble background but now wears armani suits and shops at the most exclusive store in Rodeo Drive (see here http://ainanas.com/tag/rodeo-drive-socrates/ ). Your tax dollars (or euros) at work! Isn't democracy great?
He makes telfon Bill (Clinton) look like an amateur.
Of course I forgot to say nothing came of these charges despite ample evidence.
The video was inadmissible because it was "illegaly recorded". wink, wink, nod, nod.
But there's a whole bunch of corruption cases involving Socrates (Cova da Beira, Freeport, Face Oculta, and many many more unexplained coincidences), but he always blames some mysterious occult right wing conspiracy to bring him down because he's fighting for the people, bla, bla, bla.
I know this sounds ridiculous, but the man even bought his own engineering degree from a private university that has since been disbanded and is under criminal investigation for everything from fraud to money laundering. His last "exams" supposedly occured on a Sunday!
Welcome to corrupt socialist Portugal circa 2011!
Maybe he should retire and then become head of one of the ratings agencies. Probably fit right in.
That's actually a great idea. That would be a fitting retirement.
He could probably teach them a thing or two. He's been around the block for many many years.
Now why didn't I think of that.
I'm sure that Portugal will receive complete transparency in the agencies to be investigated?
Commence the thawing of Salazar! Novo Estado Novo coming right up!
this is almost as funny as Newt Gingrich running for prez...
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/05/gingrich...
I wonder how many clowns that car can hold...
The West really is over, isn't it?
Shit sucks.
Not really, buying opportunities for those of us with physical PMs will abound.
I'd trade every ounce of silver and gold I have to have an honest, SMALL government. I would make far more purchasing power from my job, and be able to open up any of the numerous businesses that I feel are needed.
But that will never happen, so I will hold silver and gold and more silver.
Small businesses are threat to coporations and will be extinquished.
just what do they intend to find out???
The Universal Department of Anti Discrimination has determined that Gravity as a force unduly discriminates against the poor and disposed. We have implemented Regulation Q which no longer recognizes gravity as an existing force. In addition all Universities will eliminate the concept from their curriculum. Any citizens found studying, discussing or working with the concept of gravity will risk sanction. Breaking Regulation Q is punishable by 5 to 10 years of re-education and life in prison for repeat offenders.
http://dungheap.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/time-to-play-ball/
On last week's episode of Fringe we saw Zero Hedge spewing fire and brimstone at the ratings agencies. In this week's episode, taking place in the alternate universe, we get this post.
And while I understand that one of these things is not like the other, you have to admit that whatever hurts the ratings agencies is a good thing - similar to getting Al Capone on tax evasion.
this is a drag you down with me sort of thing, very amusing
Imagine how many financial geniuses there must be working for the Portugese government. Now think of all the analysts employed by the ratings agencies.
It's not exactly a straight fight...
your honor we the greek, ireland, spain, oops i mean PORTUGAL people swaped income streams with the us mortgage backed securities and were told they were AAA. we got fucked cuz we didnt do our due diligence and believed goldman sachs
basic argument right?
here is where it's gonna get good,,,, as they bring evidence to support the fact that the MBS are indeed JUNK lolololol. THATS A DEFACTO rating. guess who owns all those MBS? you got it sucker, you do the taxpayers. Now how much is the total mbs exposure? Oh about 14 trillion with a right down of say 30 -50% and growing thats about another 5-7 trillion added to the deficit. AM I WRONG? really does that sound right?
Would love to see a real accounting of the value of all that worthless MBS crap which the Benbankster continues to buy. So the world's largest debtor (US Taxpayer) keeps writing checks to buy them all for 100 cents on the dollar. Wait til they try to cash the checks -- 'returned for insufficient funds'. This cannot end well.
What kind of kindergarden is this? Is the EU trying to top the USA in media bullshit?
Yes,
Keeping the masses distracted has always worked before, why not continue?
Next up? A Portugal vs. Finland no holds barred ultimate wrestling competition live on eurosport.
The winner gets a bailout.
Hot women or ugly politicians for the prize?
If it's politicians, then it needs to be a death match.
My work just demanded that I disclose my political position and my "commodities" accounts along with "forex" accounts? WTF? Is that even legal?
Your "political" position: Bent over an oil barrel, priced in soon-to-be-worthless FRNs!
How DARE anyone question a 'sovereign' state? (I wonder how sovereign ANY country can be without control of one's currency..) - Somehow the quote "Gee Toto, I do not think we are in Oz anymore' comes to mind - However, at least in the movie there was a very distinctive change from Black & White to Color - however, although this has been far more suttle it appears to me that is nonetheless just as drastic - However, I believe that a some point more people will hopefully grasp the economic/financial issues & non-violently, but, presistently resist & influence positive change - I have a dream...Wish we had an economic/financial version of MLK or Gandi to lead the charge -
"I wonder how sovereign ANY country can be without control of one's currency.."
You mean, like the U.S.?
How DARE anyone question a financial institution or a ratings agency, especially one that might be owned by Warren Buffett. Through 2008 and up to now the ratings agencies have such a fine record and reputation.
This is just pathetic . Whenever there is a ratings downgrade , particularly here in the EU , a shit storm of protest inevitably follows . When it comes to predictions on debt and GDP et al the ECB , IMF and individual EU countries themselves have been embarrassingly incorrect the vast majority of the time . Of course the predictions pretty much always turn out to be above the actual end figures , never , or at the most rarely , do they err on the side of pessimism .
Given that their credibility is abysmal at best , they have little right to be throwing these types of childish tantrums .
If stupidity was a crime, the rating agencies would be guilty. But then so would most of the politicians.
Sad times. I doubt it was Moodys who were overspending the Portugese purse. Typical socialists.
Amen
See my replies above (if you care)
Where do these countries get their material from. This is better than the E ride on Space Mountain. What planet am I on.
So glad I bought more physical last week.
Oh puh-fucking-lease. What's the crime? Stating the obvious?
Very silly exercise. The Rating Agencies have the perfect defense, "Your honor, we are not crooked!! We are stupid." Oh crap, am I now liable for slander?
I would have thought ratings agencies would be sued for being too idiotically easy on these PIGS. But if the 'Criminal Inquiry' is anywhere near as efficient and expeditious as the CFTC's inquiry into 'Silver Manipulation' begun in 2008, or as competent as the governments finanical management, I dont think the ratings agencies have anything to worry about.
Not to really to defend Portugal which is a true bagunca (mess), but I really think they are another straw man to divert attention away from the US. Portugal's debt to GDP is 77% about on par with France. The US is currently at 96%. Portugal is being put in the penalty box because their deficit is looking on the order of 4.1%. The model of kleptocratic corruption, the US, is running 11% annual deficits with zero serious attempt at a cure, but who is even counting. Why are Portuguese yields 640 bp above UST.
As a consequence Portugal is being attacked by hegemonic speculators and I think in part as a decoy. Despite the fact that many Portuguese themselves are awful, and answer questions from tourists with a standard "eu nao sei" (I don't know) or, "como poderia que possivelmente saber" (How could I possibly know), I am still simpatico with their rather unfair situation. It is true that they really don't know anything, so just leave them alone, the fado is great.
Maybe you are wierd at asking questions. I never had any problem
Die Moody's!
Portugal should stop complaining.
Kick the rating agencies in the nuts, default, back a new currency with goold and be happy afterwards.
DEFAULT!
water board them
It's a pity that the SEC and congress doesn't seem to be serious about sending people to jail or you wouldn't even have to report this.
no worries. This blog isn't a part of the rating agency/bank/government entity they intend to sue for damages for criminal acts of fraud. not until you are "absorbed".
Its the Portugese socialists outing all the "scabs". Just where is Marx when you really need him...?