| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Europe, Free Speech, and the sinister repression of the Rating Agencies |
| 2011-07-07 |
| Before we all join the chorus of abuse against the robber agencies, let us not lose sight of what is happening in the eurozone. The EU authorities are attempting to muzzle free opinion, first by threatening Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P with vague retribution, and then by drafting restrictive laws to prevent them from publishing unwelcome messages. It is financial repression, pure and simple. The same will be done to the press in due course. Then to you, dear reader. “We must break the oligopoly of the rating agencies,” says German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble. By “we”, of course, he means the EU apparatus of coercion. The European Commission has already created a pan-EU oversight body with binding powers to breathe down the necks of these agencies. It will draft restrictive legislation by the end of the year. The Portuguese downgrade ensures that it will be even nastier.” Developments since the sovereign-debt crisis show we need to take a further look at reinforcing our rules,” said Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 So they can muzzle the rating agencies. Big deal. Then a default by a EU country will be a surprise to the non-informed, and the collapse will still take place. The financial patient will still be terminal. Morons (/channeling Holden Caulfield) |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-07-07 20:49 |