But the AAA-ratings-bubble was the fault of very few!
John Authers is correct in that “Bubbles are the fault of the many – not the few” April 3, but that is of course with the exception of the AAA-ratings-bubble and which when it blew up caused the current crisis.
That bubble was the fault of only 3 credit rating agencies and of those very few regulators who empowered the credit rating agencies with so much credibility when they made their credit risk analysis of the clients of the banks, determine how much capital the banks should have… even to the extent of allowing the banks to hold a truly minuscule 1.6 percent in capital when lending to a private AAA client and, good grief, no capital at all when lending to a sovereign AAA.
That bubble was the fault of only 3 credit rating agencies and of those very few regulators who empowered the credit rating agencies with so much credibility when they made their credit risk analysis of the clients of the banks, determine how much capital the banks should have… even to the extent of allowing the banks to hold a truly minuscule 1.6 percent in capital when lending to a private AAA client and, good grief, no capital at all when lending to a sovereign AAA.
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