Triple A, Standard Rookies and Poor Umpires

Born on Third, thinks he hit a Triple... ~ Molly Ivins of George W. Bush

Who could have foreseen that Standard & Poor's would downgrade the Credit Rating of America's debt? And why does S&P have any credibility?

The same group of Wall Street insiders who duped people into dumping their money into Wall Street by crafting bizarre mathematical derivatives, credit default swaps and giving bankrupt Ponzi schemers at Lehman Brothers, Bear Strearns and AIG, AAA ratings all the way up to when the bottom fell out, still have the power to forecast economic futures? Why didn't the Free Market eliminate a ratings agency like S&P which has either had some of the worst blunders in Financial History or colluded in the largest theft since biblical times?

I want to know why the all-powerful and all-knowing invisible hand of the Free Market hasn't strangled the likes of Jim Cramer? Jim Cramer recommended buying each and every one of the Investment banks on every show, which if you followed his advice would have netted you a loss of around 95% of your investment. For instance,

Jim Cramer recommended buying Lehman Brothers on 10/17/05 at $55.18 per share. On 9/5/08 with the stock trading at $16 per share, on CNBC, Cramer selected Lehman as a "screaming buy" and said things couldn't get any worse for the company. The firm went bankrupt and the stock trades for pennies per share for more than a 99 percent loss for Cramer.

I want to know how many Republicons other than Eric Cantor bet against the US economy by having their investment portfolios shored up with shorting long-term US Bonds? And I want to know which Hedge Fund Manager made Ten Billion dollars on his Billion Dollar bet that the US would lose it's credit rating?

Of course, if you wanted to be cynical you would say S&P did exactly what the Bankster criminals and Plutocrats wanted them to do. And after the Wall Street gambling bubble imploded and the Free Market was saved by Socialism what did the people get? Nothing. The Republicons in Congress have spent the last 3 years filibustering and impeding Wall Street regulation.

"I find it interesting to see S&P so vigilant now in downgrading the U.S. credit rating. Where were they four years ago when they, and other credit rating agencies, helped cause this horrendous recession by providing AAA ratings to worthless sub-prime mortgage securities on behalf of Wall Street investment firms? Where were they last December when Congress and the White House drove up the national debt by $700 billion by extending Bush's tax breaks for the rich?" - Senator Bernie Sanders

Precisely, Bernie. Where was S&P when the Free Market was falsifying data for the Plutocracy, the Bush Presidency and the Republican recession?

Update:
The Billion Dollar Hedge Fund wager is contested, but, Faux News and Right Wing blogs know a priori that evil George Soros did it...