Ratings Agencies - just profit-maximization entities?

Debt Watchdogs: Tamed or Caught Napping?

Excerpts:

“The mistaken notion that Moody’s was a company like any other, that was very fundamental,” said Sylvain Raynes, a former Moody’s analyst who is co-founder of R&R Consulting, a firm that helps investors gauge debt risks. “It is not just a profit-maximization entity like Exxon or Microsoft. Moody’s has a duty to the American public. People trusted it.”

Comment: Rating agencies and area of specialty

• Moody's Corporation (commercial and government entities)
  
• Fitch, Inc (One of the 3 NRSRO's along with Moody's)
  
• Standard & Poor's (research and analysis on stocks and bonds) - (One of the 3 NRSRO's along with Moody's)
  
• A. M. Best (insurance companies)
  
• Morningstar (investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and ETFs)
  

There are two superpowers in the world today in my opinion. There's the United States and there's Moody's Bond Rating Service. The United States can destroy you by dropping bombs, and Moody's can destroy you by downgrading your bonds. And believe me, it's not clear sometimes who's more powerful. (Thomas Friedman. From Feb. 13, 1996 interview with Jim Lehrer.)