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| Home Front: Politix |
| S&P chief to step down amid criticism |
| 2011-08-25 |
| [Iran Press TV] The head of the US-based Standard & Poor credit ratings agency, Deven Sharma, is set to step down from his post, less than three weeks after the agency decided to downgrade the United States' rating. Sharma's departure was announced by the S&P's parent company, the McGraw-Hill, in a statement late Monday, AFP reported. Sharma will be replaced by Citibank's chief operating officer Douglas Peterson on September 12. The S&P chief will then assume another role at the agency before leaving the organization altogether at the end of the year. The S&P came under fire by US officials and both Democratic and Republican politicians following its August 5 decision to lower the US rating by one notch from the top triple-A to AA+ for the first time in the history of the ratings. "No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country," US President Barack B.O.Obama said in a speech, dismissing the move by the credit ratings agency. Several other officials from the White House as well as the US Treasury accused the S&P of miscalculating and misreading basic data. Other critics claimed that the S&P had a leading role in causing the market turmoil that led to the 2007 global financial crisis by lowering the triple-A ratings of several mortgage-backed securities. The agency, however, defended its decision regarding the rating of the US and attributed the downgrade to the political gridlock between Obama and the US Congress over raising the debt ceiling. Meanwhile, ...back at the game, the Babe was wondering why the baseball kept getting bigger and bigger. Finally it hit him... the US Justice Department launched an investigation into the practices of the S&P that are claimed to have been behind the 2007 crisis. The investigation was, however, launched before the agency decided to downgrade the US rating. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 And Fwank. Don't forget Fwank. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-08-25 16:28 |
| #5 Why bother to get elected when you can just contract things out to fools like Obama, Geithner & Holder? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-08-25 16:10 |
| #4 Stop the looting, start prosecuting? What's the point of taking all the trouble to get elected if you can't do a little looting? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-08-25 12:37 |
| #3 So while the US Dept. of Justice harasses S&P, the largest theft in world history continues, scarcely abated by the Great Recession and ignored by Eric "Place" Holder, zombie Attorney General. Stop the looting, start prosecuting? Nah... |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-08-25 12:01 |
| #2 Yeahhhhhh. Just for grins, I googled McGraw Hill. Interesting. You talk about your conglomerates...Of course, they claim that "S&P's rating decision-making process is separate, fire-walled, and independent from the rest of our business". I believe that...just like I believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy...especially since it seems that McGraw Hill is also heavily involved in construction. Hmmmmmmmm. And, as I perused their website, I noticed a press release on Sharma's replacement, Douglas Peterson. Yep. Now if you want some real fun, google "S&P mortgage securities rating" and check out all the hits about the Justice Department investigating S&P's role in the mortgage meltdown. Well, I have to take all that with a grain of salt because, after all, the government had a bit of a role in the mortgage meltdown as well. Can you say "scapegoat"? I knew you could. Hey, I have an idea. Maybe the Justice Department should investigate Bawney Fwank! Nah. Never happen. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-08-25 11:51 |
| #1 The only man with integrity in the business had to step down because some a-hole president decided to investigate the agency. S&P should have downgraded the FED two years ago. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-08-25 11:19 |