Quote of the Day: Rating S&P’s Smarts

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From Economics of Contempt, formerly an in-house lawyer for an investment bank, explaining the difference between S&P and the other rating agencies when it came to making their case for getting a deal rated:

With S&P, it got to the point where we were constantly saying, “that’s a good point, but is S&P smart enough to understand that argument?” I kid you not, that was a hard-constraint in our game-plan.

That’s actually one of the kinder things he has to say. The rest of the post is worth reading for the entertainment value alone.