The same ratings firm that held the United States hostage to its debt demands and gave the thumbs up to toxic mortgage assets is again in the news for bungling things. Standard & Poor’s accidentally announced a downgrade Thursday of France’s AAA credit rating.

S&P is investigating the false announcement.

With all these foul-ups, one wonders what rating Standard & Poor’s would get if someone bothered to evaluate the raters, themselves. — PZS