>You may argue whether these agencies are doing a good job at this, but most proposals to get to a better system involve some way of increasing the power of gov

>You may argue whether these agencies are doing a good job at this, but most proposals to get to a better system involve some way of increasing the power of governments or individual fund managers. Ratings agencies are unaccountable private entities. Every time they are challenged they invoke the 1st amendment - i.e. their right to lie. Yet the law enshrines their privilege through regulation of investments (which are forced to rely upon their opinions). There's absolutely no way the government would be any worse. They are at least accountable to their citizens via voting. Ratings agencies are accountable to nobody. They've also used their weight to bully, too. S&P downgraded the US even though it made absolutely no sense because there were moves made to prosecute them for mis-rating CDOs before the credit crisis.