[Alberta's Child]

You're missing the point. They WERE accurate ratings because the investors were bailed out by the U.S. government. In other words, the creditworthiness of the borrowers was irrelevant once the mortgages were packaged into bonds. At the end of the day, it was the creditworthiness of the U.S. government that was the only relevant standard.

[IronJack]

Now that you put it that way ... When the government underwrote the bonds, THEY assumed the risk, so the rating became irrelevant. The government in essence promoted a massive fraud by committing taxpayer money to back up loans that were stupidly risky, all in the name of enfranchising people who had no business being enfranchised.