When You Take Cops Off The Beat (Finance sector)

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



When You Take Cops Off The Beat
By Tom Sullivan

July 8th, 2008 - 10:37pm ET


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(via Atrios) Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission found that credit-rating companies “violated internal procedures” and played fast and loose with conflict of interest guidelines, setting the scene for what came next.

The SEC report describes an e-mail in which an analyst refers to the market for collateralized debt obligations as a ``monster.''

``Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters,'' said the e-mail, which was sent Dec. 15, 2006, to another analyst at the same firm.

It seems, ratings firms were busy protecting their bottom lines by covering their clients' bottoms. That's why Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke today called for expanding the Fed's authority to oversee new kinds of financial services companies. "We need more governance," suggested a spokesman for the American Enterprise Institute. But let's not go crazy, he cautioned, lest we stifle the banking sector. Which sounds a lot like how we ended up here in the first place. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/when-you-take-cops-beat