NEWSWEEK ASKS A GOOD QUESTION

NEWSWEEK--Remember Arthur Andersen? The giant accounting firm ceased operation in 2002 after authorities learned that its auditors had shredded documents related to Enron's fraudulent schemes and were probably complicit in those practices. Even though the firm's felony conviction was later vacated by the Supreme Court, Arthur Andersen's name was so tarnished, and it faced so many outstanding lawsuits, that no one wanted to do business with it any longer. End of story. That's life in the capitalist system, folks.

One of the most distressing things about the current financial scandal is that there has been no similar reckoning against the firms that were supposed to be watching the system for the investment public.

Why haven't the rating agencies that were complicit in the subprime-mortgage securities scandal suffered the fate of Arthur Andersen?



THE RATING AGENCIES
(The Adams Family Song)
WilliamBanzai7

They're sleazy and they're stupid,
Mysterious and crooked,
They're all together shakey,
The Rating Agencies.

Their models are a screa-um.
When people come to see 'em
Their living in a drea-um.
The Rating Agencies.

Moody's

S&P

Fitch

So get a Wall Street shawl on.
Conflicts? Pay their fees to get them crawlin.
We're gonna pay a call on
The Rating Agencies.