History Rhymes Again

MANIFESTO

In 2004 we had the taped conversations of an Enron energy trader boasting about stealing money from someone’s grandmother in California. Now a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation has gleaned a few interesting quotes from email exchanges at the “impartial” agencies tasked with rating the risks behind bonds and other securities, such as those composed of sub-prime mortgages. My favorite is an exchange between two analysts that reads “Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters.'' A close second appears when, according to the SEC, one analyst expressed concern that the firm's rating model did not capture `half' of the deal's risk, but that `it could be structured by cows and we would rate it.”

Deregulation in action, giving you a business model worthy of a tax-payer bailout.