The likelihood of receiving a bad rating from firms like Standard & Poor's or Moody's these days seems somewhat unlikely. Because of the growing complexity of financial markets and the securities they offer, rating firms are increasingly taking on the role of regulators and rule makers as well as judges. Ratings become negotiable as corporations structure their deals to accommodate the demands of the raters and thereby get the ratings they need (Monroe 1986).

QUESTION: This is an old observation (1986 Monroe). How much more entrenched has this ratings-negotiation dynamic become post-2008, and does it still hold given recent regulatory scrutiny?

Shapiro, Susan P., The Social Control of Imper…, loc. 105