Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House of Representatives oversight committee, said on Wednesday that the three ratings agencies (Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's) had "broke a bond of trust" in their evaluation of...well, just about everything: mortgages, government bonds, corporations, etc. The report by Waxman is detailed in the Financial Times on Thursday. It is a fact now widely accepted. But the calamitous damage has been done and the damage yet to come will point to theculpability of these firms in the process.
I said I'm going to boast, and I am. Long before Barron's or the Wall Street Journal ever found reason to question the integrity of these operations, I did. Barron's even accused me of hiding my pecuniary interest in the matter. Well, I had no pecuniary interest in these companies.