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What is the origin of the name of this company? Anyone?
Any chance of showing some example ratings, or a colour-coded map? The effect they can have might also be good. Larklight ( talk) 17:29, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
How does Standard & Poor's profit from publishing their indices? The information is freely available to anyone. I think there ought to be a short paragraph explaining this. I'm curious as to how the indices are profitable, and I'm sure many others are as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.36.45.136 ( talk) 20:35, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
This France24 Report is largely a criticism http://www.france24.com/en/2010-04-28-Greece-Spain-Portugal-credit-ratings-downgraded (of the type "They weren't accurate on a Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis, why are they reliable now that they downgrade largely European countries?". -- 212.54.199.46 ( talk) 16:19, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
One thing to consider, Standard & Poor's never publicly admitted to making an error on the $2 trillion dollar discrepancy for projected discretionary spending growth. S&P states in a press release ( http://www.standardandpoors.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobheadername3=MDT-Type&blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3DPressReleaseAug6.pdf&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobheadername1=content-type&blobwhere=1243943612380&blobheadervalue3=UTF-8) "In response to questions, Standard & Poor’s today said that the ratings decision to lower the long-term rating to AA+ from AAA was not affected by the change of assumptions regarding the pace of discretionary spending growth. In the near term horizon to 2015, the U.S. net general government debt is projected to be $14.5 trillion (79% of 2015 GDP) versus $14.7 trillion (81% of 2015 GDP) with the initial assumption. We used the Alternative Fiscal Scenario of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which includes an assumption that government discretionary appropriations will grow at the same rate as nominal GDP. In further discussions between Standard & Poor’s and Treasury, we determined that the CBO’s Baseline Scenario, which assumes discretionary appropriations grow at a lower rate, would be more consistent with CBO assessment of the savings set out by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Our ratings are determined primarily using a 3-5 year time horizon."
S&P's President, Deven Sharma, also alludes to this in an interview with Fortune Magazine, http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/09/sp-president-obama-knows-the-problem-is-serious/
INTERVIEWER: S&P's competence has been called into question by the Treasury because of a $2 trillion error that your analysts made when they looked at the U.S. debt situation.
Deven Sharma: Let me clarify. This was not an error. It was a change in assumptions based on conversations we had with the issuer. That is part of the ratings process for any credit [including corporate, sovereign, and structured credit]. We talk to the issuer. If they have feedback, we listen. If we agree, we have no qualms about saying that we will adjust our analysis.
While widely disputed and reported in the media, this was not an error but rather a change in assumption that had very little effect on S&P's decision to downgrade the U.S. Sovereign. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bigyinzer43 ( talk • contribs) 17:52, 17 August 2011 (UTC)
Further, Bloomberg’s Caroline Braum wrote on August 19th ( http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-19/larry-summers-s-bad-math-is-s-p-informed-opinion-caroline-baum.html)
“S&P didn’t make an arithmetical error, as Summers would have us believe. Nor did the sovereign-debt analysts show "a stunning lack of knowledge," as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claimed.
Rather, they used a different assumption about the growth rate of discretionary spending, something the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office does regularly in its long-term outlook.
CBO’s "alternative fiscal scenario," which S&P used for its initial analysis, assumes discretionary spending increases at the same rate as nominal gross domestic product, or about 5 percent a year. CBO’s baseline scenario, which is subject to current law, assumes 2.5 percent annual growth in these outlays, which means less new debt over 10 years.
But S&P’s rating horizon is three to five years. The difference between the two assumptions amounts to a gap of about $250 billion in debt estimates for 2015: $14.5 trillion, or 79 percent of GDP, under the baseline scenario, versus $14.7 trillion, or 81 percent of GDP, under the alternative. (S&P includes federal, state and local government debt in its calculations.)
Over 10 years, the difference is, as Treasury says, $2 trillion and eight percentage points as a share of GDP.
In its response to the S&P downgrade, Treasury used the word "mistake" eight times, "error" five times, and other pejorative words three times -- all in a 550-word memo. Just in case anyone missed the point.
Financial writer John B. Taylor also adds ( http://johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/treasury-versus-s-on-downgrade-its-not.html), “But if you examine the details of the S&P--Treasury--White House dispute, rather than a “math error” you will find what is better described as a “difference of opinion” about a forecast for future government spending. In other words, the issue is about the appropriate “baseline” for government spending in the absence of more actions. Since when did different views or assumptions about the future become a math error?” — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bigyinzer43 ( talk • contribs) 15:23, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
I just removed the following sentence from the criticism section:
"As other rating agencies, Standard and Poor's actions are a new form of financial terrorism, and its ratings are directed by hidden financial and political interests, and less based on actual financial data, ruthlessly manipulating the markets for their own benefit, or the benefit of others."
Someone who is interested in doing so should reword it so that it isn't stated as an absolute fact and is given proper sourcing. Troodon311 ( talk) 15:19, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
"Terrorism" is a term that requires actual violence. Adding modifiers to it leads to inappropriate conclusions. It is perfectly fine to describe S and P's activities as containing a sinister aspect ... "either cut your expenditures and increase tax revenues OR ...," but "terrorism" is not appropriate. Perhaps a section on "Nation-States and the S and P" would be appropriate. There is a problem in terms of the institution's relationship with democratically elected governments and trying to whitewash it away due to the use of inappropriate language is not viable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.161.135.71 ( talk) 23:22, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
We see in all American rating companies there is a definite bias favoring US economy and under rating other countries to prove that US is superior by any standard. Why we do not have a rating organization managed by UN to avoid this, not so repliable rating system? As we clearly see that US standards are not up to the mark now but they are kept at AAA or AA+ how is it? Pathare Prabhu ( talk) 05:47, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
The map shows korea in Gray which means "not rated or below B", but Korea has the foreign Rating of A,
Korea (Republic of) A+ A AA-
Link to S&P's list: http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/sovereigns/ratings-list/en/us/?subSectorCode=&start=50&range=50 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.254.174.168 ( talk) 02:43, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
countries by Standard & Poor's ratings 20110805.png|the map]]. It shows the U.S. as AA, while the cited source gives AAA. - SummerPhD ( talk) 03:30, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
the Map is not correct not all countries are correctly colored : e.g: lebanon has a B rating from all agancies ...-- Jadraad ( talk) 18:21, 9 August 2011 (UTC)
The U.S. has a AAA credit credit rating with Moody and Fitch. It is only Standard and Poors that has the AA rating. The U.S. Credit rating is AAA and AA would be not correct at this time.
Still nothing on the Korea and Lebanon concerns? - SummerPhD ( talk) 19:18, 9 August 2011 (UTC)
Should the article mention that Standard & Poor is under a criminal investigation in Italy ?
Yes. TANSTAAFL ( talk) 16:03, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
I removed the claim that S&P had not rated these banks. Kaupthing's own website says that they did, and this press release says that they took a bright view of Landsbanki. The claim might have been based on this UK Treasury memorandum, but the Treasury were only talking about the banks' UK subsidiaries. -- Heron ( talk) 16:35, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
Various editors are attempting to impute a partisan motivation to the credit downgrade by selectively citing the political donations of Harold McGraw, CEO of S&P's parent company, without citing any actual reliable sources. This is clearly in violation of multiple WP policies, including WP:BLP, WP:RS to name but two. There is practically no way to maintain NPOV in this article if we start using political contributions as a proxy for assumed political bias in the credit decision process. Ronnotel ( talk) 17:52, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
This whole foregoing discussion misses the point. I think certain points are obvious: The FEC site is a good source for the fact of the contribution; the contribution itself isn't worth reporting unless it's notable with respect to the company; the notability is in the assertion that McGraw's political leanings may have influenced the company's action. For that last point, the FEC site is not a good source, and no source could establish the point as a fact, because it's an opinion. That doesn't mean that we suppress it entirely, however. We report facts about significant opinions, even though there's never a reliable source to "prove" that the opinion is correct. What's needed is significance to the opinion -- not just some unknown blogger in his basement -- plus a source that reliably establishes that the named person or entity did in fact state that opinion. Then we report it as an opinion, with attribution.
Applying these principles here: The opinion has been voiced, e.g. here. ("Gee, how convenient. Standard and Poor's issues a politically biased rating with a $2 trillion error. Republicans wave that rating around like Moses just brought it down from the mountain as verification of their defamation about the Obama presidency. And the head of the company making those ratings happens to give money to the likes of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.") That quotation was one I found quickly, from a liberal blogger. I'd say to the anon that, if you want to include this, you need to find the same link being drawn by a prominent spokesperson (an elected official, a columnist, etc.), with a source. Then our article can say something like: "Noting that Harold W. McGraw III, the Chairman of S&P's parent company, was a major donor to Republican politicians [cite FEC report], ___ suggested that McGraw's political leanings might have influenced the rating downgrade [cite source where opinion is reported]." Of course, if McGraw or S&P has responded by denying the charge, we'd also report that.
Absent such a source, the bare report of the fact of the contributions would imply Wikipedia's adoption of the opinion, which is not acceptable. JamesMLane t c 18:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
Having a separate "Criticisms" section is an inferior method of reporting significant criticisms, if it's used to ghettoize the information. Where possible, reports of conflicting opinions should be integrated into the appropriate section of the article, so that a reader who focuses only on that section will get a full presentation of the topic. Therefore, I'm restoring the report of the Treasury's criticism of the downgrade to the section about the downgrade. JamesMLane t c 18:04, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
Two separate admins have issued semi-protections, one of the article and one of the talk page. The result is that the anon editor who was discussing the McGraw campaign contributions has been completely blocked out.
The semi-protection policy states that semi-protection may include "Article discussion pages, when they have been subject to persistent disruption. Such protection should be used sparingly because it prevents unregistered and newly registered users from participating in discussions. A page and its talk page should not both be protected at the same time."
Here, I don't see persistent disruption of the talk page, just the legitimate expression of opinions (most of them contrary to mine, but not disruptive). Also, although no one editor violated the rule about protecting both pages, the effect is a violation. I strongly suggest that the talk page be unprotected. JamesMLane t c 18:42, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
The text names one of the founders of the current company both as "Henry Varnum Poor" and simply "Henry Varnum." No explanation is given for leaving off his last name in the second citation. If his name officially changed, it should be so indicated. If not, the name Poor ought to be included.
"The company traces its history back to 1860, with the publication by Henry Varnum Poor of History of Railroads and Canals in the United States. This book was an attempt to compile comprehensive information about the financial and operational state of U.S. railroad companies. Henry Varnum went on to establish....." 184.98.118.64 ( talk) 18:55, 22 September 2011 (UTC)PJ O'Malley
This article has no discussion of the president stepping down and the box showing Deven Sharma as president has been incorrect since august 23 2011. Fix it. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8717356/SandP-president-Deven-Sharma-steps-down-just-weeks-after-credit-rating-agency-stripped-US-of-AAA-credit-rating.html 4.249.63.23 ( talk) 23:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
In the ratings section, this article describes most of the ratings just by saying what Moody's rating they're equivalent to. This should be rewritten. Liam98 7 18:33, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
Has S&P ever before been sued by a sovereign nation, and what was the outcome if so? It would seem to have a bearing on the current suit being brought against S&P by the U.S. If they have never been sued before, it's unprecedented, if they have and lost more often, it seems likely they would lose again (but how have they stayed in business?), and if sued and S&P won more often, it would seem likely they would win again, except that the U.S. might be more likely to make a successful suit.
It seems to me that I read of attempted and largely unsuccessful suits somewhere (other WP pages?), but I have no sources to point out at the moment. Thanks for any help. TheLastWordSword ( talk) 17:23, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
I revised the intro to remove a statement that misrepresents a technical legal argument in a court filing in an intentionally pejorative way. While the subject matter may be appropriate for the controversy section, it is misplaced in the intro. Also, the language used is not consistent with the neutral point of view required by this article’s policies:
ORIGINAL:
Although considered one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also include Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Ratings,[1] the company has admitted its ratings lack objectivity and has suggested that no investor should take them seriously.[2][3]
REVISED:
S&P is considered one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also include Moody's Investor Serviceand Fitch Ratings.[2] Its head office is located on 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.[3]
Tgriff007 (
talk)
18:41, 8 August 2013 (UTC)
As part of rating bonds, S&P assigns an 'equity content'.
http://www.contactenergy.co.nz/web/mediaandpublications/pressreleases/2013/2013-04-03-capitalbondsdue2042standardpoorschangeinequitycred http://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/64699/standard-poors-change-equity-content-criteria-sees-genesis-exercise-right-change-terms-e
It would be nice to know what this means, and what the implications are. ArthurDent006.5 ( talk) 04:16, 7 June 2014 (UTC)
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Standard & Poor's has reorganized since the External Links section was last edited. Its main identity is S&P Global, so I kept that external link. There are now three divisions of S&P Global:
S&P Market Intelligence is primarily subscription products, e.g. Capital IQ. One of them, NetAdvantage was listed in the external links. I deleted it and any others for the Market Intelligence products, because they are just subscriber portals with no other informaiton.
I removed links to a 3rd party subscription service selling S&P ratings reports, and some spammy stuff. I removed the link to corporate governance scores, as S&P stopped issuing them in 2005.
The two articles about the government lawsuit of S&P from 2013 don't belong in the External Links section, as they were written about one aspect of the case while it was in progress. This talk page discusses it in great detail. Instead, I will look for a suitable summary of the outcome of the case, which resulted in S&P being fined a huge amount of money by the US government and being subject to years of regulatory scrutiny to ensure that it changed its ways of doing business.-- FeralOink ( talk) 21:45, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
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Hi, I'm incredibly unexperienced with editing Wikipedia but I noticed the current revenue statistic for this company is from 2009 which does not reflect its status as the leader of its industry. (Moody's Ratings the largest competitor has a 2021 revenue listed on Wikipedia which dwarfs the 2009 rating of S&P.). Their 2022 revenue was $11,482 Billion USD according to their internal reports " https://www.spglobal.com/en/annual-reports/2022/financial-highlightsA". Slamdog1er ( talk) 08:53, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
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What is the origin of the name of this company? Anyone?
Any chance of showing some example ratings, or a colour-coded map? The effect they can have might also be good. Larklight ( talk) 17:29, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
How does Standard & Poor's profit from publishing their indices? The information is freely available to anyone. I think there ought to be a short paragraph explaining this. I'm curious as to how the indices are profitable, and I'm sure many others are as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.36.45.136 ( talk) 20:35, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
This France24 Report is largely a criticism http://www.france24.com/en/2010-04-28-Greece-Spain-Portugal-credit-ratings-downgraded (of the type "They weren't accurate on a Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis, why are they reliable now that they downgrade largely European countries?". -- 212.54.199.46 ( talk) 16:19, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
One thing to consider, Standard & Poor's never publicly admitted to making an error on the $2 trillion dollar discrepancy for projected discretionary spending growth. S&P states in a press release ( http://www.standardandpoors.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobheadername3=MDT-Type&blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3DPressReleaseAug6.pdf&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobheadername1=content-type&blobwhere=1243943612380&blobheadervalue3=UTF-8) "In response to questions, Standard & Poor’s today said that the ratings decision to lower the long-term rating to AA+ from AAA was not affected by the change of assumptions regarding the pace of discretionary spending growth. In the near term horizon to 2015, the U.S. net general government debt is projected to be $14.5 trillion (79% of 2015 GDP) versus $14.7 trillion (81% of 2015 GDP) with the initial assumption. We used the Alternative Fiscal Scenario of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which includes an assumption that government discretionary appropriations will grow at the same rate as nominal GDP. In further discussions between Standard & Poor’s and Treasury, we determined that the CBO’s Baseline Scenario, which assumes discretionary appropriations grow at a lower rate, would be more consistent with CBO assessment of the savings set out by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Our ratings are determined primarily using a 3-5 year time horizon."
S&P's President, Deven Sharma, also alludes to this in an interview with Fortune Magazine, http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/09/sp-president-obama-knows-the-problem-is-serious/
INTERVIEWER: S&P's competence has been called into question by the Treasury because of a $2 trillion error that your analysts made when they looked at the U.S. debt situation.
Deven Sharma: Let me clarify. This was not an error. It was a change in assumptions based on conversations we had with the issuer. That is part of the ratings process for any credit [including corporate, sovereign, and structured credit]. We talk to the issuer. If they have feedback, we listen. If we agree, we have no qualms about saying that we will adjust our analysis.
While widely disputed and reported in the media, this was not an error but rather a change in assumption that had very little effect on S&P's decision to downgrade the U.S. Sovereign. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bigyinzer43 ( talk • contribs) 17:52, 17 August 2011 (UTC)
Further, Bloomberg’s Caroline Braum wrote on August 19th ( http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-19/larry-summers-s-bad-math-is-s-p-informed-opinion-caroline-baum.html)
“S&P didn’t make an arithmetical error, as Summers would have us believe. Nor did the sovereign-debt analysts show "a stunning lack of knowledge," as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claimed.
Rather, they used a different assumption about the growth rate of discretionary spending, something the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office does regularly in its long-term outlook.
CBO’s "alternative fiscal scenario," which S&P used for its initial analysis, assumes discretionary spending increases at the same rate as nominal gross domestic product, or about 5 percent a year. CBO’s baseline scenario, which is subject to current law, assumes 2.5 percent annual growth in these outlays, which means less new debt over 10 years.
But S&P’s rating horizon is three to five years. The difference between the two assumptions amounts to a gap of about $250 billion in debt estimates for 2015: $14.5 trillion, or 79 percent of GDP, under the baseline scenario, versus $14.7 trillion, or 81 percent of GDP, under the alternative. (S&P includes federal, state and local government debt in its calculations.)
Over 10 years, the difference is, as Treasury says, $2 trillion and eight percentage points as a share of GDP.
In its response to the S&P downgrade, Treasury used the word "mistake" eight times, "error" five times, and other pejorative words three times -- all in a 550-word memo. Just in case anyone missed the point.
Financial writer John B. Taylor also adds ( http://johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/treasury-versus-s-on-downgrade-its-not.html), “But if you examine the details of the S&P--Treasury--White House dispute, rather than a “math error” you will find what is better described as a “difference of opinion” about a forecast for future government spending. In other words, the issue is about the appropriate “baseline” for government spending in the absence of more actions. Since when did different views or assumptions about the future become a math error?” — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bigyinzer43 ( talk • contribs) 15:23, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
I just removed the following sentence from the criticism section:
"As other rating agencies, Standard and Poor's actions are a new form of financial terrorism, and its ratings are directed by hidden financial and political interests, and less based on actual financial data, ruthlessly manipulating the markets for their own benefit, or the benefit of others."
Someone who is interested in doing so should reword it so that it isn't stated as an absolute fact and is given proper sourcing. Troodon311 ( talk) 15:19, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
"Terrorism" is a term that requires actual violence. Adding modifiers to it leads to inappropriate conclusions. It is perfectly fine to describe S and P's activities as containing a sinister aspect ... "either cut your expenditures and increase tax revenues OR ...," but "terrorism" is not appropriate. Perhaps a section on "Nation-States and the S and P" would be appropriate. There is a problem in terms of the institution's relationship with democratically elected governments and trying to whitewash it away due to the use of inappropriate language is not viable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.161.135.71 ( talk) 23:22, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
We see in all American rating companies there is a definite bias favoring US economy and under rating other countries to prove that US is superior by any standard. Why we do not have a rating organization managed by UN to avoid this, not so repliable rating system? As we clearly see that US standards are not up to the mark now but they are kept at AAA or AA+ how is it? Pathare Prabhu ( talk) 05:47, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
The map shows korea in Gray which means "not rated or below B", but Korea has the foreign Rating of A,
Korea (Republic of) A+ A AA-
Link to S&P's list: http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/sovereigns/ratings-list/en/us/?subSectorCode=&start=50&range=50 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.254.174.168 ( talk) 02:43, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
countries by Standard & Poor's ratings 20110805.png|the map]]. It shows the U.S. as AA, while the cited source gives AAA. - SummerPhD ( talk) 03:30, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
the Map is not correct not all countries are correctly colored : e.g: lebanon has a B rating from all agancies ...-- Jadraad ( talk) 18:21, 9 August 2011 (UTC)
The U.S. has a AAA credit credit rating with Moody and Fitch. It is only Standard and Poors that has the AA rating. The U.S. Credit rating is AAA and AA would be not correct at this time.
Still nothing on the Korea and Lebanon concerns? - SummerPhD ( talk) 19:18, 9 August 2011 (UTC)
Should the article mention that Standard & Poor is under a criminal investigation in Italy ?
Yes. TANSTAAFL ( talk) 16:03, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
I removed the claim that S&P had not rated these banks. Kaupthing's own website says that they did, and this press release says that they took a bright view of Landsbanki. The claim might have been based on this UK Treasury memorandum, but the Treasury were only talking about the banks' UK subsidiaries. -- Heron ( talk) 16:35, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
Various editors are attempting to impute a partisan motivation to the credit downgrade by selectively citing the political donations of Harold McGraw, CEO of S&P's parent company, without citing any actual reliable sources. This is clearly in violation of multiple WP policies, including WP:BLP, WP:RS to name but two. There is practically no way to maintain NPOV in this article if we start using political contributions as a proxy for assumed political bias in the credit decision process. Ronnotel ( talk) 17:52, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
This whole foregoing discussion misses the point. I think certain points are obvious: The FEC site is a good source for the fact of the contribution; the contribution itself isn't worth reporting unless it's notable with respect to the company; the notability is in the assertion that McGraw's political leanings may have influenced the company's action. For that last point, the FEC site is not a good source, and no source could establish the point as a fact, because it's an opinion. That doesn't mean that we suppress it entirely, however. We report facts about significant opinions, even though there's never a reliable source to "prove" that the opinion is correct. What's needed is significance to the opinion -- not just some unknown blogger in his basement -- plus a source that reliably establishes that the named person or entity did in fact state that opinion. Then we report it as an opinion, with attribution.
Applying these principles here: The opinion has been voiced, e.g. here. ("Gee, how convenient. Standard and Poor's issues a politically biased rating with a $2 trillion error. Republicans wave that rating around like Moses just brought it down from the mountain as verification of their defamation about the Obama presidency. And the head of the company making those ratings happens to give money to the likes of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.") That quotation was one I found quickly, from a liberal blogger. I'd say to the anon that, if you want to include this, you need to find the same link being drawn by a prominent spokesperson (an elected official, a columnist, etc.), with a source. Then our article can say something like: "Noting that Harold W. McGraw III, the Chairman of S&P's parent company, was a major donor to Republican politicians [cite FEC report], ___ suggested that McGraw's political leanings might have influenced the rating downgrade [cite source where opinion is reported]." Of course, if McGraw or S&P has responded by denying the charge, we'd also report that.
Absent such a source, the bare report of the fact of the contributions would imply Wikipedia's adoption of the opinion, which is not acceptable. JamesMLane t c 18:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
Having a separate "Criticisms" section is an inferior method of reporting significant criticisms, if it's used to ghettoize the information. Where possible, reports of conflicting opinions should be integrated into the appropriate section of the article, so that a reader who focuses only on that section will get a full presentation of the topic. Therefore, I'm restoring the report of the Treasury's criticism of the downgrade to the section about the downgrade. JamesMLane t c 18:04, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
Two separate admins have issued semi-protections, one of the article and one of the talk page. The result is that the anon editor who was discussing the McGraw campaign contributions has been completely blocked out.
The semi-protection policy states that semi-protection may include "Article discussion pages, when they have been subject to persistent disruption. Such protection should be used sparingly because it prevents unregistered and newly registered users from participating in discussions. A page and its talk page should not both be protected at the same time."
Here, I don't see persistent disruption of the talk page, just the legitimate expression of opinions (most of them contrary to mine, but not disruptive). Also, although no one editor violated the rule about protecting both pages, the effect is a violation. I strongly suggest that the talk page be unprotected. JamesMLane t c 18:42, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
The text names one of the founders of the current company both as "Henry Varnum Poor" and simply "Henry Varnum." No explanation is given for leaving off his last name in the second citation. If his name officially changed, it should be so indicated. If not, the name Poor ought to be included.
"The company traces its history back to 1860, with the publication by Henry Varnum Poor of History of Railroads and Canals in the United States. This book was an attempt to compile comprehensive information about the financial and operational state of U.S. railroad companies. Henry Varnum went on to establish....." 184.98.118.64 ( talk) 18:55, 22 September 2011 (UTC)PJ O'Malley
This article has no discussion of the president stepping down and the box showing Deven Sharma as president has been incorrect since august 23 2011. Fix it. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8717356/SandP-president-Deven-Sharma-steps-down-just-weeks-after-credit-rating-agency-stripped-US-of-AAA-credit-rating.html 4.249.63.23 ( talk) 23:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
In the ratings section, this article describes most of the ratings just by saying what Moody's rating they're equivalent to. This should be rewritten. Liam98 7 18:33, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
Has S&P ever before been sued by a sovereign nation, and what was the outcome if so? It would seem to have a bearing on the current suit being brought against S&P by the U.S. If they have never been sued before, it's unprecedented, if they have and lost more often, it seems likely they would lose again (but how have they stayed in business?), and if sued and S&P won more often, it would seem likely they would win again, except that the U.S. might be more likely to make a successful suit.
It seems to me that I read of attempted and largely unsuccessful suits somewhere (other WP pages?), but I have no sources to point out at the moment. Thanks for any help. TheLastWordSword ( talk) 17:23, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
I revised the intro to remove a statement that misrepresents a technical legal argument in a court filing in an intentionally pejorative way. While the subject matter may be appropriate for the controversy section, it is misplaced in the intro. Also, the language used is not consistent with the neutral point of view required by this article’s policies:
ORIGINAL:
Although considered one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also include Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Ratings,[1] the company has admitted its ratings lack objectivity and has suggested that no investor should take them seriously.[2][3]
REVISED:
S&P is considered one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also include Moody's Investor Serviceand Fitch Ratings.[2] Its head office is located on 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.[3]
Tgriff007 (
talk)
18:41, 8 August 2013 (UTC)
As part of rating bonds, S&P assigns an 'equity content'.
http://www.contactenergy.co.nz/web/mediaandpublications/pressreleases/2013/2013-04-03-capitalbondsdue2042standardpoorschangeinequitycred http://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/64699/standard-poors-change-equity-content-criteria-sees-genesis-exercise-right-change-terms-e
It would be nice to know what this means, and what the implications are. ArthurDent006.5 ( talk) 04:16, 7 June 2014 (UTC)
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Standard & Poor's has reorganized since the External Links section was last edited. Its main identity is S&P Global, so I kept that external link. There are now three divisions of S&P Global:
S&P Market Intelligence is primarily subscription products, e.g. Capital IQ. One of them, NetAdvantage was listed in the external links. I deleted it and any others for the Market Intelligence products, because they are just subscriber portals with no other informaiton.
I removed links to a 3rd party subscription service selling S&P ratings reports, and some spammy stuff. I removed the link to corporate governance scores, as S&P stopped issuing them in 2005.
The two articles about the government lawsuit of S&P from 2013 don't belong in the External Links section, as they were written about one aspect of the case while it was in progress. This talk page discusses it in great detail. Instead, I will look for a suitable summary of the outcome of the case, which resulted in S&P being fined a huge amount of money by the US government and being subject to years of regulatory scrutiny to ensure that it changed its ways of doing business.-- FeralOink ( talk) 21:45, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
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Hi, I'm incredibly unexperienced with editing Wikipedia but I noticed the current revenue statistic for this company is from 2009 which does not reflect its status as the leader of its industry. (Moody's Ratings the largest competitor has a 2021 revenue listed on Wikipedia which dwarfs the 2009 rating of S&P.). Their 2022 revenue was $11,482 Billion USD according to their internal reports " https://www.spglobal.com/en/annual-reports/2022/financial-highlightsA". Slamdog1er ( talk) 08:53, 8 March 2024 (UTC)