"It Could be Structured by Cows, and We Would be Rating It"

Dealbook:

John A. Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, chose to read aloud from an instant-message conversation between two S&P employees in the firm’s structured product division.

“The other writes back: “The model does not reflect even half of the risk.’”

“The first employee writes back: “Yeah, but we rate every deal. It could be structured by cows, and we would be rating it.’