Portugal opens inquiry into international rating agencies

Link to Washington Post article

The four economists claimed the agencies — Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch — caused severe financial losses for Portugal and demanded to know whether they profited from the ratings.

Well, this is definitely one to keep an eye on.

By all accounts, the rating agencies had a major role in the global economic debacle that we are all experiencing.

Hopefully this will shed some light on the many unanswered questions about these agencies...
1) what do they actually base their ratings on?
2) what is their relationship to the banks and investment institutions they rate for?
3) are their profits directly linked to the ratings they emit?

I question the power that is given to so few private, profit-based companies. In essence, they can make or break corporations and countries almost overnight... this does not seem right to me!

the Billmeister

They do, indeed, have a great amount of power over what happens to a country.

Regardess of whether people believe they count all that much or not, you can see the results of their actiosn.