Daily Mail 2009: Ratings agencies ‘critical’, 2012: ‘Doom-mongers’

Media Integrity

Alex Hern looks at some classic Daily Mail hypocrisy

 

Following the news that the credit ratings agency (CRA) Moody’s has put the UK on negative outlook, those of us who are concerned about the level of power these agencies wield suddenly have a number of new allies.

Some of them are really quite surprising indeed, including the City editor (since 2010) of the Daily Mail, Alex Brummer:

In 2009:

Clearly, the verdict of the credit rating agencies is critical. For many investors it is the only guide they have when making investments in sovereign debt or fixed rate instruments.

So they are vital to government funding and yield levels. The worse the rating the more the government has to pay for its borrowing.

And in 2012:

Instead of being in thrall to these faceless, self-appointed doom-mongers who present themselves as guardians of countries’ creditworthiness, the Government should look elsewhere for a more accurate barometer of our economic health.

No matter how questionably timed their new love of democratic accountability may be, the support of commentators like Brummer – and the Telegraph’s Jeremy Warner, who is railing against the “self-appointed lords of finance” – is appreciated. But what comes next?

Will they support the calls of the Party of European Socialists for regulation of the ratings agencies? Will they advise the chancellor to ignore the agencies’ advice to cut further and faster, and instead take up the cause of economic stimulus?

Or will they conveniently forget their big words next time they can make an appeal to authority to support their utterly discredited ideological economic program? Time will tell.

See also:

• Osborne’s austerity is failing at the one thing it’s supposed to do – Alex Hern, February 14th 2012

• Credit rating agencies weigh in on independent Scotland – Alex Hern, February 6th 2012

• European socialists call for regulation of the ratings agencies – Alex Hern, January 18th 2012

• No, Gideon, low gilt yields aren’t good news, and here’s why – Cormac Hollingsworth, November 16th 2011

• The current crisis: brought to you politician by inaction and unaccountable credit rating agencies – George Irvin, August 8th 2011

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17 Responses to “Daily Mail 2009: Ratings agencies ‘critical’, 2012: ‘Doom-mongers’”

  1. geordietoff

    RT @leftfootfwd: Daily Mail 2009: Ratings agencies 'critical', 2012: 'Doom-mongers' http://t.co/GUfd897j

  2. KMJ

    In 2009, Daily Mail said Credit Rating Agencies were 'a vital guide', now says CRA's R 'self-appointed doommongers': http://t.co/vcLKdTCV

  3. Cari Percy Clark

    In 2009, Daily Mail said Credit Rating Agencies were 'a vital guide', now says CRA's R 'self-appointed doommongers': http://t.co/vcLKdTCV

  4. Mike Dever

    The credit rating agencies are incompetent, which they’ve repeatedly proven. But they are also irrelevant. Look at the market’s reaction after the U.S was downgraded. U.S. debt rallied. That is because the markets already set the credit worthiness of any borrower that has outstanding paper. The price is out there. The price of credit default swaps is out there. That is the ‘real’ credit rating of a sovereign or corporate borrower. Ratings are both redundant and dumber than the crowd-sourced price that already exists. I talk about the failure of the credit rating agencies in my book “Jackass Investing.” I’m pleased to provide readers with a complimentary link to the chapter in which they’re discussed (Myth #13: It’s Best to Follow Expert Advice):
    http://bit.ly/ugSnBf

    Mike Dever
    Author, Jackass Investing: Don’t do it. Profit from it.

  5. Mark

    In 2009, Daily Mail said Credit Rating Agencies were 'a vital guide', now says CRA's R 'self-appointed doommongers': http://t.co/vcLKdTCV

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