On Wednesday, 30 November 2011 I asked queried the blogoshpere, "Where Are The Ratings Agencies For UK & German Banks Before They Go Boom? How About Those Euro REITs? Agencies Anybody? [13]", quickly followed by So, Now The Rating Agencies Want To Acknowledge The Existence Of The FrankenFinance Monster??? [14] You see, the problems of these countries should have been known and evident for sometime know. At least it's safe to say that BoomBustBloggers knew about them. All of sudden, Moody's appears in the headlines, as per Bloomberg: Italy, Spain Cut by Moody’s; U.K. Top Rank at Risk [15]
Moody’s Investors Service cut the debt ratings of six European countries including Italy, Spain [16] and Portugal and said it may strip France and the U.K. of their top Aaa ratings, citing Europe [17]’s debt crisis.
Reference the subscriber document posted TWO years ago on the UK: UK Public Finances March 2010 [18]. For the more stingy amongst you who don't subscribe, reference the first three pages of said 710 day old document, then let me know if the rating agencies are showing up to pile of smoldering ashes with a fire hose again....
[14]
I have also warned extensively on the other nations that Moody's is just now getting to stripping, and will address them in detail in a separate post. In the meantime, this is a good time to bring up that Interesting Documentary on the Power of Rating Agencies, with Reggie Middleton Excerpts [19]
[20]
Continuing my rant on the effectiveness (not) of the ratings agencies, I bring to you an interesting documentary on the rating agencies' effect on the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, produced by VPRO Tegenlicht [13] out of Amsterdam. You can see the full video here, but only about half of it is in English. I appear in the following spots: 4:00, 22:30, 40:00... Reggie Middleton Discussing the Rating Agencies effect on Sovereign Europe [13]