Let's count the ways: So one of ROMNEY's former (and still) partners created an LLC just to donate $1M to ROMNEY and then dissolved. Now, the CEO of S&P, a McGRAW ka-zillionaire does the rating of whatever...
Yesh, the local wingnut accused me of conspiracy theories. Yeah. I replied: So.
Last time around, during the bank bailout and the documentation about the same gambling/betting going on that led to the crisis then, you were infuriated, wanted the guilty parties hunted down and locked up!
Oh, did you hear that the “mystery donor” of $1M to ROMNEY’s campaign came forward and turned out to be – who?! – why, it was one of ROMNEY’s former business partners, who this time formed an LLC for a few months, long enough just to make the donation, then dissolved itself. Really, this looks clumsy and desperate, along with the S&P honcho.
Anyway, so your position is: Things just happen. By themselves. There are no motivations out there. No personalities. No axes to grind. No ambitions.
Actually, almost all of the big decisions in history are made on the basis of personalities and whims. Not that the McCAIN/PALIN ticket was of huge historical importance, but it was made with NO thought at all, over a couple of days, based on word of mouth among a couple of “influential” brokers. Just a silly whim.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_&_Poor's Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's (S&P) is a United States–based financial-services company. It is a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds. It is well known for its stock-market indices, the US-based S&P 500, the Australian S&P/ASX 200, the Canadian S&P/TSX, the Italian S&P/MIB and India's S&P CNX Nifty. The company is one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also includes Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Ratings.<2>
The company traces its history back to 1860, with the publication by Henry Varnum Poor of History of Railroads and Canals in the United States. This book was an attempt to compile comprehensive information about the financial and operational state of U.S. railroad companies. Henry Varnum went on to establish H.V. and H.W. Poor Co. with his son, Henry William, and published annually updated versions of this book.
In 1906, Luther Lee Blake founded the Standard Statistics Bureau, with the view to providing financial information on non-railroad companies. Instead of an annually published book, Standard Statistics would use 5" x 7" cards, allowing for more frequent updates.
In 1941, Poor and Standard Statistics merged to become Standard & Poor's Corp. In 1966, the company was acquired by The McGraw-Hill Companies, and now encompasses the Financial Services division.<3> ....
With the US downgrade some have accused S&P of causing further damage for its own agenda. S&P acknowledged making a USD$2 trillion error in its justification for downgrading the US credit rating,<15> but stated that it "had no impact on the rating decision".<16> "A judgment flawed by a $2 trillion error speaks for itself,"<17> said a spokesman for the United States Department of the Treasury.
Another issue that has concerned commentators is that an S&P rating — for example, of the US government or any other world government — can have, and has had, a distinct effect on a truly global scale. But the decision on these ratings are made by the company's employees who are not elected by the public, and are not accountable for their decision making process. There is no appeals process against a credit-rating decision.
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