Already facing a spate of private lawsuits, the legal troubles of the country’s largest credit rating agencies deepened on Friday when the attorney general of Ohio sued Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, claiming that they had cost state retirement and pension funds some $457 million by approving high-risk Wall Street securities that went bust in the financial collapse.
The second paragraph could almost be parody:
The case could test whether the agencies’ ratings are constitutionally protected as a form of free speech.
I really hope that's their line of defense, and not a "prove negligence" angle, which might actually give them a chance of wriggling off the hook.
Here's my question though. After the last couple of years, why do these bloodclots still have 85% of the market share in their industry? Isn't the free market supposed to punish companies that fuck up so colossally? The mere fact that they don't have 100% market share proves they have some competition.
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