The role of rating agencies in the US Subprime crisis

For those still in the mood of looking at someone to blame for this financial mess, here is one target that you should not miss : the rating agencies. Bloomberg has two excellent articles explaining how S&P and Moody's put profit ahead of their professional integrity and underrated risky derivatives such as Subprime mortgages backed CDOs (part 1 and part 2).

Another very important article giving a broader perspective on the effects of the dominance of the financial sector in an economy, and includes an explanation of the subprime mortgage crisis as well as a description of the role of the rating agencies, is this article by John Bogle, "Black Monday and Black Swans", an abstract of which can be found in the August issue of CFA Digest. It is a must read for any one who is interested in the root causes of the subprime mortgage crisis.