Ratings Agencies Largely Escape Regulatory Overhaul
The New York Times takes a look at one part of the financial industry that's escaping the administration's proposed regulatory overhaul largely unscathed: the ratings agencies. The agencies, particularly Moody's and Standard & Poor's, have long been considered central to the crisis. While the companies gave top ratings to the banks' mortgage-backed securities (the toxic assets of today), they earned large profits from those same banks. Those ratings turned out to be wildly wrong, but the companies kept the profits.
The administration's new plan essentially wags its finger at the industry while keeping the pay structure in place, the Times reports.
Other links this morning:
Born in a Previous Crisis, OTS Faces Extinction (WaPo)
Obama Plan Gets Wary Reception From Banks, Lawmakers (Bloomberg)
Obama Defends Financial Overhaul (WaPo)
Only a Hint of Roosevelt in Financial Overhaul (NYT)
Public Wary of Deficit, Economic Intervention (WSJ)
Dispute Grows over TARP Chief's Powers (LAT)
Report: Lax Oversight Allowed Downey Savings' Loan Binge (LAT)
As big banks return their TARP money, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to be a drain.
Latest Stories in this Project
- Search the Fed's Documents Detailing Their Lending to Banks During the Crisis
- Behind Administration Spin: Bailout Still $123 Billion in the Red
- The Bailout Yearbook: The Stars and the Slackers
- Identifying Suspicious Short Selling, But Not Who's Behind the Trades
- Treasury's 'Point Man' on AIG Bailout That Benefited Goldman, Owned Goldman Stock
Get Updates
Our Hottest Stories
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Introducing the ProPublica Patient Harm Community on Facebook
- Finding Oscar: Massacre, Memory and Justice in Guatemala
- Built for a Simpler Era, OSHA Struggles When Tower Climbers Die
- Got Student Loans? Share Your Documents With Us
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable
- Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
- Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
- In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
- Air Force Pilots Balk at Flying the World’s Most Expensive Fighter Jet
- Watchdog Group Calls for Probe of Lobbyists Behind Congressional Trip to Taiwan
- Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored
- Billion Dollar Bait & Switch: States Divert Foreclosure Deal Funds
- Broadcasters Sue to...Block Transparency
- Happy Graduation! Here's The Best, Most Depressing Journalism on Student Debt
- Remember Stuxnet? Why the U.S. is Still Vulnerable
