While Wash DC policymakers still hold rating agency approval as sacred, corporate America has long ago jettisoned them. Only four companies hold AAA ratings. Many others, like General Electric and Pfizer lost that rating long ago—but are still raking in profits and selling large amounts of stock. According to the Boston Globe, the credit ratings are seen by companies as “more of a straitjacket than a path to riches.”

Is It Time To Downgrade the Rating Agencies? | The Nation
By George Zornick

www.thenation.com

Despite playing a hugely damaging role in the 2009 financial collapse, credit rating agencies were a central player in the debt ceiling debate. When will Washington learn to ignore them?