posted on Aug, 19 2010 @ 08:30 PM
First of all, I don't trust Moody's farther than I can spit. These are the same clowns who handed out triple-A ratings to the sketchiest companies
and instruments in history over the last decade. Now they are joining the "tinfoil parade" as Johnny-come-latelies, suddenly confirming the wildest
fantasies of ATS years later.
But I'm posting this not necessarily because the content of Moody's predicitons would be suprising to ATSers -- it won't be. What *is* surprising
and interesting is to see a staid cornerstone of the financial "establishment" like Moody's barking and raving out on the lunatic fringe with the
rest of us. This kind of statement from them would have been unthinkable two years ago.
My guess is that this is some kind of "revenge tactic" by Moody's. The rating agencies have become a target of a lot of finger-pointing on Wall
Street by the governement, indivduals, and big banks alike. Yes, the ratings agencies share blame and fundamental change in this area is needed. But a
lot of people who also are to blame are hoping to throw the ratings agencies under the bus as a communal scapegoat and looking to deflect some of the
blame from themselves. Perhaps this is Moody's way of "lashing back" at critics..."you take us down, we'll take you down too," that kind of
thing. However, the ratings agencies have no real power at the end of the day and they already sacrified their own integrety years ago.
Ho-hum, another pillar of rib-rocked Wall Street respectablity goes down in flames while the rats scuttle furiously for the lifeboats...
Time is running out for the West
The Great Recession has dramatically shrunk the time left for the big AAA states to prevent a full-blown sovereign debt crisis as their demographic
time-bomb threatens, US rating agency Moody's has warned.
"Genuinely adverse debt dynamics were only expected to materialise in 15 to 20 years. The crisis has 'fast-forwarded' history, eroding all the time
available to adjust, " said the group's quarterly Sovereign Monitor.
Moody's fears that the US will crash through its safety buffer by 2013 if growth falters (adverse scenario), with interest payments topping 14pc of
tax revenues. The debt-to-revenue ratio has already doubled in three years to 430pc.
More at source:
www.telegraph.co.uk...
[edit on 8/19/10 by silent thunder]