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

This excellent blow-by-blow write-up details the conflicts of interest, stupidity and blind-leading-the-blind absurdity that has accompanied rating agencies' relationships with CDOs. Though almost every paragraph is worthy of being quoted, here's just one wonderful snippet: "'When you see something that's priced at a 1,000 basis point spread, you know it's pretty risky,' Partnoy says. 'The rating agencies might not figure that out for a while.'" D'oh!