The credit rating agencies are the umpires of the financial world. They are supposed to be giving objective assessments of the financial status of the companies they rate. This is why it is big news that Standard & Poors may have altered its rating of Portland General Electric at the request of the company. David Cay Johnston deserves credit for tracking this one down. The NYT should not have buried the piece in the distant recesses of the business pages.
--Dean Baker
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