financial crisis. gee they gave a aaa rating to. good grades for firms that collapsed or were bailed out because of bad debt in fact the financial crisis inquiry commission said the three credit ratings agencies were key enablers of the financial meltdown and this brings us to test three ethics ratings agencies are paid by the investment firms they grade and moody's and s. and p. are publicly traded which means they may be more driven to increase profits for shareholders raising this debate right now you have the companies that are are being judged by paying the bill and i'm writing a big old version but mr buffett also pointed out the market requires it because these ratings agencies have been around forever so they're in shrine by government regulations which oh yeah they have a stake in test for objectivity frank. financial reform has restrictions on rating agencies and the rules are yet to be written and they care. billion dollars this year lobbying washington over the regulations which brings us full circle to the downgrade of u.s. credit the u.s. was downgraded by ass in p. because of government debt girl member of the government ran up that debt i

grades for firms that collapsed or were bailed out because of bad debt in fact the financial crisis inquiry commission said the three credit ratings agencies were key enablers of the financial meltdown and this brings us to test three ethics ratings agencies are paid by the investment firms they grade and moody's and s. and p. are publicly traded which means they may be more driven to increase profits for shareholders raising this debate right now you have the companies that are are being judged the paying them though and i'd like i'm running a big old mr buffett also pointed out the market requires it because these ratings agencies has been around forever so they're in shrine by government regulations which co yeah they have a stake in test for objectivity for a solution the financial reform has restrictions on rating agencies and the rules that are yet to be written and a curious huge view about what those rules and up looking like it would surprise me if they were trying to curry favor with politicians in fact they spent a combined total of one point seven six million dollars this year lobbying was