Credit analysts are assholes (but you knew that already)

Check out this article from Bloomberg, describing the soulless employees of Moody's and S&P:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ac8Bkp_7F4Rc&refer=home

Some choice quotes:

Employees at Moody's Investors Service told executives that issuing dubious creditworthy ratings to mortgage-backed securities made it appear they were incompetent or "sold our soul to the devil for revenue,'' according to e-mails obtained by U.S. House investigators.

An e-mail that a S&P employee wrote to a co-worker in 2006, obtained by committee investigators, said, "Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters.''

A partner at my firm tipped me off, adding that before hitting "send" on an email, one should always ask oneself, "how would this sound in a deposition?" Voicemails, he says, are much harder to track down.