The Power of the Rating Agencies (Enhanced DVD)

Within less than a year, France would find itself downgraded by two rating companies. Moody's downgraded France from its previous triple-A status and Standard & Poor's also dropped the country's status. The world was surprised by these announcements and questions began to be asked across the globe about how these ratings systems and agencies operated. They wanted to know what was the basis of these downgrades and whether they were justified. Some suspicions held that it was a political move to lessen the impact of the euro and some pointed at the United States as the origin of these troubles.

This film takes a closer look at the top credit rating agencies for the world: Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings, and Moody's Investor Service. This film offers a glimpse at how these companies grew to hold their powerful position and what the consequences are when each agency makes an announcement about a particular country's rating.

A number of experts weigh in on the subject, including Moody's former director of European Sovereign Rating, Jerome Fons, who has become skeptical of the system as a result of his time at the rating agency.

This film has a run time of 49 minutes and is closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

• Enhanced DVD
• ISBN: 978-1-61753-223-8
• Copyright Date: 2012