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...list of people and institutions to blame for the financial crisis would include credit-rating agencies - the companies that assign letter grades to everything from General Electric's bonds to Malaysia's sovereign debt, indicating the chances that investors will lose money. The CEOs of the three largest agencies - Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch - were assailed by Congress in October for the way their firms made record profits while raising few, if any, red flags about how massively risky mortgage-related securities had become...
...center of the conversation is how ratings agencies get paid. Since the 1970s, the largest ratings agencies have been paid by the companies that issue bonds or securities. This "issuer-pay" model has been roundly criticized for leading the agencies to cozy up to the firms creating financial products - especially the complex ones - by assigning ratings that are more favorable than justified in order to hold on to the business. At the beginning of 2008, there were just 12 top-rated companies in the world, but some 64,000 structured finance instruments, like mortgage-related CDOs, won that seal...
...next largest expense is buying and keeping "mother ships" in good working order. The boats are usually trawlers which are, based on photos, about 100 feet long. One or two of these have been sunk by foreign navies, but they do not have to be replaced often. A large trawler built in the 1970s costs about $1 million. A trawler that is ten years old costs closer to $3 million. Some of the trawlers the pirates use were probably seized during their raids. Most research indicates that one out of three attempts by the pirates to hijack a ship succeeds...
...This attitude is also inconsistent with President Obama’s pronounced goals in domestic policy. The idea of withdrawing funds that support the most cutting-edge research by the nation’s best and brightest in a field in which the U.S. has perhaps the largest lead over any other in the world—advanced technological development—is questionable at best. It goes directly against the ideals he has promoted domestically of stimulating our economy, supporting science and technology, and providing opportunities for young engineers and scientists to engage in the most exciting and advanced...
...Grad students in engineering fields, of whom 1,860 were polled, still chose Panasonic as their ideal employer (followed by Sony), but automotive-related companies dropped in rank, and household products (including cosmetics) and pharmaceutical companies grew in popularity. The largest gains were seen by cosmetics companies Kao and Kose, food company Meiji, and three pharmaceutical companies: Shionogi & Co., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., and Astellas...