would have been cheaper to have bailed out the homeowners. add in the other 29 not taken care of by dodd-frank that were there with glass-steagall and its going to happen some more...

D.A.R.N. Network* Clarification Squad:

It AIN'T S&P's fault! It's the LIBERALS and SOCIALISTS and ACORN's fault! I SEEN it on the INTERNET!

*Delusional Alternate Reality News Network

This is nothing more than a plot of vengeance against the S&P for downgrading the US bond status. There's plenty of others to blame that haven't even been talked about by the AG.

NC is chomping sour grapes after losing so much of its employee pensions in the stock market.... but that is what you get when you gamble. Perhaps NC should just visit Las Vegas... the odds are sometimes better.

The securities being sold were backed by Fan and Fred... the full faith of the US govt and taxpayers... and they were sold as such.... S&P is not to blame.

"Academic snob, What fraudulent activity? If the banks didn't loan the money they were fined very heavely, The S&P saw this and then reduced the rating of the Government becuase of all the bad loans. That is what this administration is upset about. The lower rating is on their watch. and they did nothing to stop it. babedan"

The DOJ is after S&P for knowingly giving fraudulently high ratings to mortgage-backed securities--ratings they knew didn't accurately reflect the risk. State pension funds, among others, are not allowed to "junk" securities. Based on the fraudulent ratings, they duped into buying these securities. When the securities blew up (as the fraudsters knew they would) they lost a lot of money.

Banks make risky loans all the time. As long as they appropriately disclose the risk, there's no fraud. These guys hid the risks.

Mortgage-backed securities have nothing to do with why S&P reduced the credit rating of US-issued debt. It had to do with debt/GDP ratio.

Babedan - The fraudulent activity was giving high marks to real estate bonds that had little or no chance of performing well due to the borrowers ability to repay. Yes, the institutions had to make the bad loans IF they could find someone to underwrite them. The fraud was giving the loans high marks so they could be underwritten. I'm happy that S&P is going to have to face the music on this, but they're no where close to the only ones, and some of the decisions involved aren't just civil actions, they are criminal. And Academicsnob, the Obama mentions in here are because his Justice Department has done very, very little to bring these guys to justice, either criminal or civil.

So the other 2 credit ratings organizations had the same exact ratings on these financial institutions but ONLY the S&P downgraded the Obama economy. This is political retaliation at its disgusting worst. Everyone should be enraged!!

Pirate01 oh ........that's comming!

so what is so different here from the fed. government (Dodd/Frank) and others who all but forced banks/other mortgage lenders to give loans to people they knew could never pay it back?

josephlawrence43 nobody forced anyone to lie, steal and cheat......they own that all on their own!

The government is probably also seeking revenge for having its own S&P rating downgraded the last time the debt ceiling got raised. While some of the blame might be S&P's, there are more culprits lurking elsewhere who should also be addressed. Partial scapegoating here.

"so what is so different here from the fed. government (Dodd/Frank) and others who all but forced banks/other mortgage lenders to give loans to people they knew could never pay it back?"

Perhaps because no one forced banks to make bad loans..But due to the deregulated market these poor government abused banks made millions in the 1990s and early 2000s selling their bad loans on the stock market as mortgage backed securities with the possible help of the S&P

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