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Moody's lowered long term ratings on Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banco IMI by 2 notches to Baa2. Moody's recently lowered Italy's rating to Baa2. Moody's cited the high direct exposure of Italian banks to sovereign debt of Italy and risks that the Italian government may not be able to provide financial support to Italian banks in the event banks need help.

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Delicate labor relations cause nervousness at Moodys and the rating is lowered for GM in Feb 2006, for a second time.

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Moody's may fire employees who made serious errors in assigning ratings amid allegations of wrongdoing in rating CPDO's or constant proportion debt obligations and other financial instruments.

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Followup to yesterdays (Aug 16, 2007) wsj article on the failure of credit ratings agencies in the current crisis. This covers the European oversight of the role of ratings agencies. Conflicts of interest are being investigated by the European union's internal markets commissioner. Note the focus on the slowness of ratings agencies to respond to the deteriorating situation since mid-2006.

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Mogan McSweeney of Cork Ireland, son of an IRA courier with a politics and marketing degree from Middlesex University, joined the Labour Party in London fighting off Corbyn supporters during the Corbyn leadership till 2019. The Guardian says McSweeney settled on Keir Starmer as the candidate to replace Corbyn as a centrist on the right. It was says the Guardian McSweeney as an organizer against the Corbyn left that installed Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street. And then by getting Starmer to appoint his mentor Mandelson led to Starmer becoming "the most unpopular prime minister in history." It says May local elections may sound the end of Starmer. McSweeney is blamed for some of Starmer's failure to project a image of firmness as he backtracked on issues on the advice of McSweeney, to the point that many in Labour party thought McSweeney made Labour driverless. As McSweeney ejected all Corbynites from the Labour Party he weakened the party and led to Labour bleeding its vote to the Greens and the Liberals. Labour's got a landslide with many Labour MP's winning by thin margins- its vote was slim only 34% of the vote, itself a warning that something was not right. On immigration the root causes were not addressed till early 2026- the ECHR human rights that needed to be put aside as written with serious flaws and which allowed asylum hotels. This led to a shift to Nigel Farage, called back from retirement to lead Reform UK in 2026 and way ahead of Labour and Conservatives in the polls. Worse 50% of Labour's vote disappeared in 2026 polls by February hardly 2 years after the win in 2024, as the support McSweeney helped organize had no depth of conviction- most of it to Liberals and Greens under Polanski. The result is that even the Guardian is disappointed and says McSweeney installed Starmer as PM and then made him "the most unpopular PM in history." Net favorability in Feb 2026 -57 similar to Sunak of Conservatives in June 2024. A 75% unfavorable rating in Jan 2026. And 14 points below the Labour party in "like" ratings. Only 18% are favorable for Starmer. It shows how a series of British prime ministers with mediocre backgrounds have failed in the country. ...

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The lack of meaningful reform of the credit ratings business, after Congressional hearings show that the credit rating personnel are under a lot of pressure from management.

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A recent poll by Forsa, independent polling institute, shows the governing parties in German chancellor Merkel's coalition have only 34% support. Forsa does surveys for German magazine Stern. By contrast the Social Democrats and the Greens have 47% support. Merkel lost an election in May 2010 in North Rhine-Westphalia. Merkel has three years remaining in her term.

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This is a companion short article to the longer article of Gordon fairclough's trip in a Chinese company made Cherry A1 compact with friends through the 1700 mile Silk Road in Xingiang Province of China. This is a very important piece of writing as its the first time someone has taken a Chinese small car in for a difficult 3 day test drive through mountainous and desert regions for 3 day in a remote region nearly 1700 miles. The Cherry A1 is advertised by China as a worldclass vehicle for about $7000. Is it really is the question. And Gordon says it passes his test admirably. Note that its built with help from Italian auto design firm Bertone, powered by a 1.3 litre enginedeveloped with help from Austrian engineering firm AVL, and made with parts from Honeywell International and Visteon. And finally assembled in Anhui province, a poor province of China, with workers who earn $1 an hour. The Cherry is a government owned company started in 1997. This Cherry will be marketed under the Dodge brand in Latin America and other developing markets by end of 2008. It will be modified for safety and environmental rules and marketed in USA and Western Europe in 2009. SAys Gordon Fairclough that for a small car the car ride was realyy smooth and quiet and even at 100 miles an hour there was only a slight vibration on the steering column. The airconditioning worked well in the desert. The car had a CD player and a USB port for MP3 players. The acceleration was a bit sluggish considering the small size of the 1.3 litre engine and with 4 passengers on this journey through Xingiang province. ...

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Fitch ratings firm changed Turkey's credit rating for long term foreign currency debt to investment grade by upgrading it from double B plus to triple B minus. Turkey still has junk status from Moody's and Standard & Poor's ratings firms. At the same time Fitch says the situation in Turkey is volatile, saying a financial shock and recession are likely "at some point." Moody's described Turkey in October 2012 as having "substantial external vulnerabilities," and large short term financing needs. S&P's credit rating for Turkey is two notches below investment grade and Finansbank AS in Istanbul chief economist, Inan Demir, says it does not look like the other ratings firms support Fitch's asessment.

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Mr. Trump appears strong on the economy issue says this report in the NYT. About 9 million jobs were added in April, May and June after loss of 20 million jobs in March and April in the U.S. The Republican base of white voters is less affected by the loss of jobs- only one of five Republicans had the perception that they would lose their job. There is confidence about the economy in this base as small business and workers see conditions improving.

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The SEC, and the Attorney Generals of Ohio and new York are launching investigations into the ratings practices of the Ratings firms in the current subprime mortgage securities crisis.