A Blinding Flash of the Obvious: Limit Conflicts of Interest Between Raters and Their Ratees

As we’re in the business of rating and assessing things, we find the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s vote today to curb the influence of securities issuers on ratings agencies (Standard & Poors, Moody’s, Fitch), well, amazingly common sense. And it took exactly how long for the SEC to wake up to these problems? Bloomberg…

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Thailand: “Teething Pains of a Slowly Maturing Democracy”?

In a recent post on The Global Dashboard Blog, political analyst Leo Horn criticizes the Western media’s portrayal of Thailand’s current political crisis as steeped in cliches. Resisting the typical “virtuous rural masses versus power-possessive urban elites” lens, Horn takes a broader outlook. He sees the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest as social progress…

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