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The Secrets To Goldman Sachs' Success: Contrary Bets, Predatory Lending, Government Connections, Offshore Tax Havens

McClatchy | Greg Gordon | Posted 11.01.2009 | Business

Read More: Foreclosures, Paulson, Regulation, Recession, Obama, Reform, Lloyd Blankfein, Mortgage Related Swaps, Mortgages, Goldman Sachs, Aig, Mississippi, Bailout, Predatory Lending, Securities Act of 1933, Blankfein, Hank Paulson, Foreclosure, Housing Crisis, Goldman Sachs Mortgage, Real Estate, Wall Street, Tax Havens, Housing Market, Blue Chips, Calpers, Derivatives, Moody's, Offshore, Tim Geithner, High Yield Bonds, Hedges, Barack Obama, Nyse, Cayman Islands, Banks, Sec, Subprime Mortgage, Economy, Business News

WASHINGTON -- In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but n...

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Under Attack, Credit Raters Turn to the First Amendment

HuffPost Investigative Fund | By Ben Protess and Lagan Sebert | Posted 11.03.2009 | Business

Read More: Market, Standard, Bill of Rights, Morgan Stanley, Moodys, Egan Jones, Free Speech, Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Business News

Editor's note: This is the first of three articles by the Investigative Fund on the credit rating companies. To help with the investigation, sign up ...

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Help Us Investigate: Rating Agencies

Huffington Post Investigative Fund | Adam Clark Estes | Posted 11.04.2009 | Eyes & Ears

Read More: Fitch Ratings, Standard, Citizen Journalism, Standard and Poor, Financial Crisis, Credit Rating Agencies, Moody's, Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Eyes & Ears News

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund continuing to report on the causes and consequences of the financial crisis. Ben Protess, who published the fir...

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Credit Rating Agencies: New Regulations Approved By House Committee

AP | ANNE FLAHERTY | Posted 10.29.2009 | Business

Read More: Standard, Ratings Agencies, Financial Crisis, Securities and Exchange Commission, House Financial Services Committee, Moody's, Business News

WASHINGTON — A House committee voted Wednesday to set new rules for investment rating agencies, which lawmakers say misled investors by giving h...

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A Reasonable Case For Regulation

Rep. Jackie Speier | Posted 10.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: Sec, Lehman Brothers, Financial Services Committee, Regulation, Rating Agencies, Moody's, Fitch, Standard & Poor, Financial Regulation, Jackie Speier, California, Politics News
Rep. Jackie Speier

How would you feel if you discovered that a highly-rated bond received its grade not because the company is strong, but because the rating agency assumed the government would bail the company out?

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How Moody's Sold Its Rating - And Sold Out Investors

McClatchy | Kevin G. Hall | Posted 10.18.2009 | Business

Read More: Moody's, Financial Crisis, Ratings Agencies, Economy, Business News

As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody's Investors Service, whose investment ratings were widely trusted, responded by purging analysts a...

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Newsweek: Credit Rating Agencies Are Getting Off Easy

newsweek.com | Michael Hirsh | Posted 10.01.2009 | Business

Read More: S, Fitch Ratings, Moody's, Michael Hirsh, Credit Rating Agencies, Newsweek, Business News

Moody's and Standard & Poor's, the two giants of the industry, are still around despite causing the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars by badly r...

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Richard Cantor: Moody's Exec Denies Claims Of Inflated Ratings

AP | MARCY GORDON | Posted 09.30.2009 | Business

Read More: Edolphus Towns, Moody's Congressional Hearing, Sec, Eric-Kolchinsky, Securities Exchange Commission, Credti Rating Agencies, Eric Cantor, Moody's, Business News

WASHINGTON — A key House lawmaker wants to make credit rating agencies – widely criticized for failing to give investors adequate warning ...

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Eric Kolchinsky, Moody's Whistleblower: Ratings Are Still Inflated, Nothing's Changed

The Huffington Post | Ryan McCarthy | Posted 09.23.2009 | Business

Read More: Eric Kolchinsky, Standard and Poor's, S, Moody's Whistleblower, Credit Rating Agencies, Fitch, Moody's, Kolchinsky, Business News

As the big three credit rating agencies -- Moody's Investor Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings -- prepare to face the scrutiny of the House ...

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Moody's Stock Slides On Probes Of Credit Rating Agencies

AP | Posted 09.30.2009 | Business

Read More: Standard, Moody's, Business News

DES MOINES, Iowa — Shares of rating agency Moody's Corp. fell Thursday as government agencies began looking into credit rating companies' actions du...

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Warren Buffett Turns From Stocks To Bonds

nytimes.com | GRAHAM BOWLEY | Posted 11.08.2009 | Business

Read More: General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Buffett Bonds, Buffett-Bailout, Aig, Warren Buffett, Buffett Stocks, Moody's, Business News

When so many others were running scared last autumn, Mr. Buffett invested billions in Goldman Sachs, and got a far better deal than Washington. He the...

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Half Measures and Lukewarm "Reform" Won't Save the Middle Class

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 10.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Al Qaeda, "Ownership Society, Home Ownership Loan Corporation, Economic Crisis, President Barack Obama, Middle Class, George W. Bush, Congress, Credit Default Swaps, American Middle Class, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, " David Brooks, Upside Down Mortgages, Home Ownership, Wall Street, The New Deal, Steve Moore, Standard and Poor, Holc, Republican Party, Moody's, Barack Obama, Stephen Moore, Politics News
Joseph A. Palermo

Let's hope that when Obama speaks Congress he outlines not only a bold program to provide health care for all Americans, but also a set of proposals to lift the middle class out of its currently dismal economic condition.

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Rating Agencies Escape Overhaul In Recent Bill

ft.com | Joanna Chung and Aline van Duyn in New York | Posted 08.22.2009 | Business

Read More: S, Moody's, Rating Agencies, Business News

Credit rating agencies would face a raft of new disclosure rules and restrictions but would not be forced to overhaul their business models under prop...

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Calpers Sues Rating Agencies: Where's Obama? Where's Congress?

Les Leopold | Posted 08.15.2009 | Business

Read More: Financial Crisis, CEO Pay, Congress, Wall Street, Barack Obama, Economic Crisis, Moody's, Business News
Les Leopold

Fantasy finance inevitably leads to financial crashes, which are a disaster for the real economy. Along the way, bankers get filthy rich. But when the game goes bust, we are the ones picking up the tab.

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Calpers Sues Moody's, S&P, Fitch Over Ratings Of Shoddy Assets

nytimes.com | LESLIE WAYNE | Posted 08.15.2009 | Business

Read More: S, Calpers, Moody's, Business News

SACRAMENTO -- The nation's largest public pension fund has filed suit in California state court in connection with $1 billion in losses that it says w...

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Ryan Grim

SEC Chair Floats Ratings Agency Crackdown

HuffingtonPost.com | Ryan Grim | Posted 08.14.2009 | Business

Read More: Sec, Rating Shopping, Ratings Agencies, S&P, SEC Chairman, Mary Schapiro, Moody's, Business News

The Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Schapiro floated the possibility of cracking down on a particularly egregious Wall Street habit at a...

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Lamar Alexander's $750 Billion Flimflam Plan on Nuclear Energy

David Fiderer | Posted 08.13.2009 | Business

Read More: Cap and Trade, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Energy, Lamar Alexander, Clean Energy, Coal, Republicans, Moody's, Business News
David Fiderer

Anything that addresses the issue of climate change involves a tradeoff, and nuclear power may very well be one part of the long-term solution.

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Morgan Stanley Turns Downgraded CDOs Into AAA Securities

bloomberg.com | Posted 08.09.2009 | Business

Read More: Cdo, Collaterized Debt Obligations, Mortgan Stanley, AA Bonds, Moody's, Business News

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley plans to repackage a downgraded collateralized debt obligation backed by leveraged loans into new securities with...

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U.S. Credit Rating Safe, A "solid triple-A": Moody's

Yahoo! News | Posted 07.24.2009 | Business

Read More: Triple A, Moody's Sovereign Risk Group, Federal Deficit, Credit Rating, Moody's, Business News

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday that the U.S. government's triple-A credit rating was safe but added that it could be at ...

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Marcus Baram

Credit Rating Agencies Spared Major Reforms In Obama's Overhaul

HuffingtonPost.com | Marcus Baram | Posted 07.18.2009 | Business

Read More: Obama Financial Overhaul, Rating Agencies Reforms, Issuer-Pay Model, Credit Rating Agencies, Standard & Poor's, Fitch Agency, Obama Credit Rating Agencies, Moody's, Business News

They've been called the culprits of the financial crisis but their role has remained largely unexamined. And they were largely spared any major reform...

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Rating Agencies Spared In Obama Financial Reforms

Reuters | Jonathan Stempel | Posted 07.18.2009 | Business

Read More: S, Ratings Agencies, Moody's, Business News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Long attacked for awarding pristine ratings to mortgages and other securities that proved worthless, credit rating agencies were ...

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Moody's: US Government's 'Aaa' Rating Is Stable Despite Rising Debt

AP | Posted 06.27.2009 | Business

Read More: US Debt, Us Credit Rating, Us, Moody's, Business News

NEW YORK — Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday the U.S. government's "Aaa" rating is stable despite the country's swelling debt. A credit ...

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Warren Buffett: The Oracle Speaks

Judith Ellis | Posted 06.04.2009 | Business

Read More: Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Warren Buffett, Arianna Huffington, Wall Street, Charlie Munger, Moody's, Financial Crisis, Business News
Judith Ellis

Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger speak about the dangers of mathematical theories. But where were they before now?

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Credit Ratings Accused Of Reaping Profits As Regulators Fail

Bloomberg News | Posted 05.31.2009 | Business

Read More: Moody's, Standard, Credit Ratings, Credit Rating, Credit Rating Agencies, Business News

Ron Grassi says he thought he had retired five years ago after a 35-year career as a trial lawyer. Now Grassi, 68, has set up a war room in his Tah...

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Credit Rating Agency Scandals Ignored by US

Diane Francis | Posted 05.29.2009 | Business

Read More: Standard & Poors, Financial Crisis, Credit Rating Agencies, Sec, Banking Crisis, Wall Street Crisis, Wall Street, Economic Crisis, Moody's, Business News
Diane Francis

Credit rating agencies contributed to the current economic collapse. They were paid fees by banks who sometimes pressured or shopped around for the most favorable risk assessments, an obvious conflict of interest.

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