CDO Boom Masks Subprime Losses, Abetted by S&P, Moody's, Fitch

Joseph Mason, a finance professor at Philadelphia's Drexel University and a former economist at the U.S. Treasury Department, says the ratings are undermined by the disclaimers. I laugh about Moody's and S&P disclaimers,'' he says. The ratings giveth and the disclaimer takes it away. Once you're through with the disclaimers, you're left with very little new information.''