The role played by the big credit rating agencies in the unfolding financial crisis is now well-known. By giving complex, opaque and ultimately toxic mortgage-backed securities high ratings , the credit agencies enabled banks to market these destructive securities around the world. Now, when governments around the world need to increase spending and fiscal deficits in the short run to pull themselves out of economic crisis, Standard & Poor's and Fitch are sending "credit warnings" to governments, threatening to downgrade their sovereign debt ratings if they allow their fiscal deficits to increase too much.
In this article in Truthout, Gerald Epstein suggests a coordinated response on the part of international governments and NGOs to prevent further misguided and potentially destructive action by the credit agencies.
