S&P Sued by Department of Justice

   Just what went on in 2007 as the subprime mortgage market was collapsing varied from financial office to financial office.

   It seems that at Standard and Poor's an analyst thought he would lighten the depressed mood around his offce and went from desk to desk, singing an ode to American real estate.

   It went something like this: "Housing market went softer/cooling down/strong market is now much weaker/subprime is boi-ling o-ver/Bringing down the house," to the Talking Heads song "Burning Down The House," according  to the Justice Department.

    The laughs around the office were big, according to their report. Now the lawsuit.

    The Feds say that S&P misrepresented the quality of its ratings "knowingly and with intent to defraud" and are suing for $5 billion. parent company McGraw Hill to compensate investors and taxpayers who were hurt when securities they had rated highly later defaulted.

  Apparently there are emails in 2007 that focused on  "not p***ing off too many clients and for jumping the gun ahead of (competitors) Fitch and Moody's". In fact, they say a bevy of emails.

   Of course in the mean time, the little guys with the mortgages, lost and kept on losing.