Should we restrain from finding the truth and just go for the usual suspects?

Sir Gillian Tett in “US subprime blame game spreads overseas” December 7, says that “while some politicians think rating agencies are convenient whipping boys, policymakers know that if that line of attack goes too far, it risks undermining investor confidence in the entire credit world.”

That is indeed a totally valid argument but, if we are going to avoid even worse systemic financial crisis in the future, we must also dare to reach further yet and raise the issue that the policymaking-regulators are also to be blamed for having empowered the credit rating agencies too much.