Listen, it’s been a said a million times before, nobody gives a monkeys what opinion S&P’s has about the banks or anything else, if the credit crisis is about one thing it’s about the failure of agencies like S&P’s, so ignore them, their opinions for investors are about as useful as anti-diarrhoea pills, but if you really want a rating here’s one for free: triple A grade shit, avoid like the plague.
Um, mostly by you… 
what do they know that we don’t, why now
The earth is not flat
Plenty of people care what the rating agencies say. They’re one of the cornerstones of Risk Management.
Of course, so is VaR. 
That doesn’t change the fact that rating changes matter though.
You mean my geography teacher was wrong? FFS 
That why your teacher is now a TD. Suitablly qualified you see. 
On the subject of rating agencies, the way I see it is that you can’t trust a AAA rating, but you can trust a downgrade (as in the penny has dropped)…