Thomas to Moody's, Buffett: ‘If if and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas’

Phil Angelides, left, Bill Thomas, right

Former California Treasurer Phil Angelides and retired Bakersfield, Calif., Congressman Bill Thomas aren’t exactly stand-up comedians. They are serious, brainy policy wonks.

And there’s nothing funny about the job Congress gave them to do.

But the imagery that emerged during a hearing Wednesday of their congressionally-created commission, the Fiscal Crisis Inquiry Commission, was both funny and accurate. And it cut to the heart of the Wall Street excesses that brought the U.S. economy to the brink of collapse.

Democrat Angelides and Republican Thomas co-chair the bipartisan FCIC, which is supposed to explain to Congress by Dec. 15 who did what to whom that led to the financial mess, and create a road map for Congress to better protect investors and the nation’s economy.

The 10 FCIC members were grilling representatives of the rating agency Moody’s, as well as its major stockholder, investment giant Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, about the AAA ratings Moody’s gave to what turned out to be disastrous investment instruments, primarily involving subprime real estate loans.

When asked about the assurances Moody’s provided, a former company director told commissioners that Moody’s was focused on “market share,” meaning it was focused on making an increasing number of deals and bringing revenue into the company.

Traditionally, bankers would bring deals to the rating company a month or two before they closed, giving analysts time to evaluate risks and establish accurate ratings, which are used by investors in their buying decisions.

But as the market heated up, the deals came in just days before closing. Some even arrived after closing, according to FCIC testimony Wednesday.

To that, Angelides asked, “Did you ever see ‘I Love Lucy?’ That famous episode where she’s working in a chocolate factory and the conveyor belt just goes faster and faster? Did you ever feel like Lucy?”

Thomas went further with the chocolate analogy, likening the deals the bankers were making to putting chocolates in a box, with the best being those with solid deals and performing loans, and the questionable ones with creamy soft centers.

Buffett acknowledged that rating agencies “made the wrong call,” but noted that the entire American public believed housing prices would not dramatically fall.

He acknowledged that he did not recognize the significance. He pointed out that during his company’s annual meeting, he called the situation at “bubblette.” But it turned out to be “a four star-bubble,” Buffett told commissioners.

After sorting through a series of excuses expressed during the hearing, Thomas observed: “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.”

Thomas has long been critical of the role rating agencies have played in the nation’s financial crisis.

Angelides noted Wednesday that these rating agencies were the “referees in a game that got out of control.”

About the author: Dianne Hardisty is The Bakersfield Californian’s retired editorial page editor. Now a freelance writer in Bakersfield, Hardisty interviewed former Bakersfield Congressman Bill Thomas in December on the eve of the first major Fiscal Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing.

Moody's, Warren Buffett on FCIC hot seat Wednesday

Former Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, left


Watch for the sparks to fly Wednesday as the Fiscal Crisis Inquiry Commission turns its focus on the credit rating agencies, which many believe played a key role in the near collapse of the U.S. economy.

Financier Warren E. Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway , and Raymond W. McDaniel, chairman and chief executive officer of Moody’s Corp., will be among those called to testify during the FCIC hearing.

According to Fortune magazine’s Carol Loomis, who is Buffett’s long-time friend, the editor of his newsletter and a shareholder, the financial giant refused invitations to voluntarily testify before the commission. Gary Cohen, the FCIC’s general counsel, confirmed Buffett was issued a subpoena to testify.

Still one of Moody’s biggest shareholders, Buffett began selling off his interest in the rating company last summer.

While most of the commission’s hearings have been held in Washington, D.C., Wednesday’s will be held at The New School in New York City.

The bipartisan commission, which was created by Congress, is headed by Democrat Phil Angelides, California’s former state treasurer, and former Republican Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield, Calif.

In an interview with Dianne Hardisty, which appeared in The Bakersfield Californian in December, on the eve of the commission’s first major hearing, Thomas was highly critical of credit rating agencies in providing a false sense of security around risky investment schemes.

"What really happened was that all these large banks were carrying these strange instruments of consolidated mortgages. And all of a sudden they weren't worth that much,” Thomas told Hardisty. “Well, how much were they worth? We didn't know for sure. Moody's gave them a triple-A rating so they could sell them to other people. But if you look at the rating game, you pay for the rating. So you end up hiring one of the firms that gave you a triple-A.

"It's a lot like what happened to the accounting firms that recommended how and where you invested your money, and then went over the books and, guess what, they concluded that was a great place to invest your money. Except it blew up. You can't have people on both sides of a ledger when they are carrying out a function,” Thomas said.

"People were buying triple-A ratings. Maybe they weren't triple-A. Maybe they were junk. Banks had these on their books and they didn't know if they were worth anything. It wasn't that they didn't have enough money. They just didn't know what they had."

This week, New York Times columnist Ross Sorkin likened the system to restaurant reviews.

“Restaurant reviews might seem suspect if they were paid for by the restaurants being reviewed,” Sorkin wrote. “But that is essentially how things work in the credit rating business. Even now, after all we have learned, Moody’s, S.&P. and Fitch are still paid by the banks and companies whose securities they evaluate.”

During his December interview, Thomas noted that commissioners “are not out to embarrass people. We are out to find the facts. As the facts come out, a number of people will have to be embarrassed because they were in positions of responsibility and didn't do what people in these positions should do."

Commission Chairman Angelides told Fox Business’ Charlie Gasparino last week that so far, the vast majority of information the FCIC and its staff of about 40 investigators have found doesn’t fall into the “illegal” category.

“Most of what we see is not illegal activity,” he said. “What we are seeing is something that is actually more profound. These guys didn’t think they were doing anything wrong because of the use of risk to make money was universally celebrated on Wall Street.”

When the commission reaches its Dec. 15, 2010, deadline, the goal is to leave Americans with a book to explain what happened and a yard stick to measure the efforts of this Congress and future Congresses to fix the problems, said Thomas.

About the author: Dianne Hardisty retired as The Bakersfield Californian’s editorial page editor in 2009. She now is a freelance writer in Bakersfield specializing in business and government issues. Hardisty's articles often appear on her Examiner webpage.