that and the euro is the biggest competitor to the dollar as a reserve currency.

is this the same rating agency that did not strip big american cop-orations of their triple rating ,they were all bankrupt and then had to ask uncle sam for some silver to keep them going what a joke these people are

Yes indeed..the same star buckos that AAA Cap’n-ed the sub-prime bundled-derivative scams…ye olde trio of Moody, Fitch and S&P…revolving doorment to Goldman Sachs/WallSt/Fed waltzers round all regulation in the Gala Ball of global debt snowballroom.

The dance will continue until the music stops. No sign of the City of London Philharmonic Press Orchestra running out of string sections.
http://www.treasureislands.org

It has a ‘promise’ of c500 mil from Ireland next year…. Joke.

Freedom of speech/information… They are private entities that have built a reputation and are funded by other private companies who pay for their reports and recommendations on creditworthiness.

To shut them down simply because it’s a truth you would rather remain in denial about amounts to fascism.

To answer your question who gives them so much power… You do, you invest your money in a fund( say your pension) which is bound by a contract with the bank that they will take your money and generate returns for you, part of that contract is related to risk, you authorise them to take a certain degree of risk with your money… To ensure that the risk is quantified you both agree they can’t invest your money in ‘junk’ graded stocks and bonds. But who determines what is junk and what isn’t… You and the bank agree that the three credit agencies are the best qualified to do that

Very plausible, Andrew.

But the these star rating agencies endorsed the financial instrumentation of bundled split-derivative sub-prime mortgage packages in cahoots with the private bankers hedged to win on both sides of the cyclic scams of Wall St ‘players’.
To question their infallibility as some paraclete of ‘truth’ is no more fascistic, as you call it, and probaly less so, than to accept unchewed their numerological Goebbeldigook of cooked stats.
As for ‘..You and your bank..’..making that agreement…I think thats what they call a case of false conclusion from faulty premises, some being more equal than others in such deals. We are not too BIG to fail.

i.e. I’m rating your comment as ZZZ…though most sonorously reassuring to the somnambulant feeders from the invisible hand of market largesse.

The US has a massive debt problem in its public finances, no doubt about that. It can keep printing to pay off if needs be, the Euro is not allowed do that. US private debt is falling rapidly and in a another year or two will be at low levels over all, U.S companies have record cash holdings at the moment. Unemployment is falling. With the advent of fracking in America it is going to return to being a leading energy producer. Gas, vital for so many industries has hit rock bottom levels, it is 5 times cheaper than Asia or Europe. It has a functioning and integrated economy, with a strong transfer union in place, wealth from the rich areas goes to the poorer areas.

America love it or hate it has an incredible capacity to reinvent itself. The EU can’t even resolve a tiny little problem like Greece. Whatever the problems that America and the Dollar face they are not even remotely as worrying as Europe’s or the Euro currency’s ones.

The US unfortuntely can not keep printing money as you suggest because at some point that debt will become unsustainable. Remember some of the agencies have already downgraded the US ratings because they believe it is unsustainable. At some point the US is going to have to scale back in its spending and that will cause major problems for its economy.

And you’re very optimistic about the amount of energy the US is going to produce from fracking. There is no way the US is going to become a leading energy producer again.

It certainly cannot print without end, it would indeed turn the currency to a confetti but it is doing a very good job of re-balancing its economy. Financial industry debt and household debt are rapidly heading back to levels of a decade ago. That will put the American economy on a very sound footing.

The state debt can be worked on over years and inflation, as long as the man on the street is able to spend, invest and start new businesses then it will be fine. The problem here is that people in Europe are going to be bled dry for years to come paying off debt, their own and that of failed banks. That will destroy growth for years.

If a state prints money it is not borrowing that money but creating it. While fracking may not be as lucrative as suggested reports yesterday show that US oil reserves surpass that of Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations so from an energy point of view they are in good stead.

These rating agencies are a problem that should be addressed tho. After the 2008 collapse every one of them stood before the US house committee investigating the collapse and defended their ratings of securities using the first amendment. In other words we could say whatever we want about securities because its our opinion. They didn’t take out stats and figures to defend their ratings, the first amendment was all they had by way of defence.

Creating money is not the same thing as creating capital or wealth. It is an illusory wealth which benefits the politically anointed to the cost of the greater population. For examples look at Zimbabwe, Weirmar Germany and the closing chapter of Yugoslavia’s economy.

Or as the native Americans used to say, ‘When the white man has poisoned the last river and slain the last bufallo he will realise he cannot eat his money.’

Not at all, Ciaran..don’t be raining on the Nice parade…we’ll have a nice little war or two to warm up the credit freeze.

Always wurx.