Rating agencies: Ratings junkies

Nobody now needs convincing that financial markets are behaving like manic depressives. One of the reasons for the roller-coaster emotional ride is that market players have become fixated by credit ratings. AIG had to be rescued because it was downgraded. Lehman was tipped over the edge because it was about to be. Some people will blame the agencies. But that misses the point. Moody’s, Standard & Poors, and Fitch may be damned if they cut the rating of a financial institution in difficulty; they...