Did Standard and Poor’s Break SEC Regulations in Disclosing Its Downgrade to Select Parties?
The Administration and its allies have gone after Standard and Poor’s for its downgrade of the US bond rating to AA+. They have attacked S&P’s general competence, its failure to reexamine its decision in the light of a $2 trillion math error (a Wall Street Journal story does not reflect well on S&P’s haste) and the subjective and political basis for its judgment. Even if these attacks have merit, however, they come off as being less than convincing by virtue of sounding like sour grapes.
There is a much more straightforward basis for questioning S&P’s conduct, and it has nothing to do with how S&P arrived at its rating.
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