One of the more depressing and outrageous revelations of the massive Wall Street scandal was the news that the previously Olympian ratings agencies, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, were incompetent at best; at worst, they were in bed with the investment banks whose bonds they were supposed to be evaluating. Both agencies, for example, bestowed AAA ratings — the highest possible — on laughably flimsy mortgage-backed bond contraptions, whose demise almost sank the global economy
Tag Archives: street
Nation: The Flick of Violence
A gang film called The Warriors attracts off-screen rumblesStaring from the poster, they looked like a nightmare of what might be, that terrifying day when the street gangs take over the city, any city.
NEGROES: Darrow v. Klan
Down Mobile way, darkies croon to the night on soft spring evenings, grin, tip hats, as they shuffle past white “gemmen,” still their noble lords if not their masters.
Cuba: The Massacre
CUBA Communiqu No. 4: The invading mercenary army which occupied Cuban territory for less than 72 hours has been completely crushed
Great Britain: Requiem for Rosa’s
Though the signs outside identified it as a hotel, the Cavendish was no place for the unsuspecting tourist.
Massive Accounting Fraud Fells WorldCom
Is there anybody out there investors can trust? Wall Street was pondering that today as markets were hammered following last night’s announcement that WorldCom had inflated profits by a staggering $3.8 billion over the past five quarters
Tiger Daughter: American Dad on Raising a Child in China
I sat in our suburban home in Shanghai and read online the excerpt from Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. My reaction to it was straightforward: Maybe a little over the top, but, yeah, that’s about right.
Is the Wii Really Good for Your Health?
A week after Nintendo’s Wii debuted in November, the Wall Street Journal reported that the gaming console was leaving some users as sore as the gym often does.
What’s Still Wrong with Wall Street
Are you furious?
India’s Anti-Sikh Riots of 1984: Still Waiting for Justice
On the surface, the line of two-room dwellings on a dusty street in west Delhi appears little different from thousands of other roads in India’s crowded capital.