Don't breathe too much of a sigh of relief. Yes, the Fed did lower by half a percent the rate of interest banks have to buy for money they borrow. But this is a stop gap matter, and it does not deal with the structural problem of loans and mortgages whose ultimate possession is held by God only knows who. And of sub-prime loans and mortgages taken out by--also--God only knows who. Then, of course, there are the guaranteers of payments for insurance policies of policy makers where neither the maker nor the guarantor has the wherewithal to pay when the the dread event occurs. I suggested yesterday that Moody's. S & P and Fitch are at the center of this maelstrom, and today's Wall Street Journal supports this conclusion in an article by David Gauhtier-Villars, entitled "Sarkozy tackles credit." Actually, Angela Merkel also shared in this revelatory insight, now to be examined at the coming G-7 meeting. But the actual research process into the conflict of interest exploited by the rating agencies began with the European Commission. Anyway, the financial public received the news from the president of France and the chancellor of Germany. Not President Bush or the other putative protectors of healthy and honest capitalism. Since capitalism is truly international funds and banks all over the world will suffer--because of their institutionalized ignorance and greed. The best account of this crisis I've read was a two-page spread in this morning's Guardian, including one article headlined "Shares to fall further, banks will go bust." But there was another one on the crucial rating agencies. It's by Simon Bowers: "EU investigates claims that agencies were slow to react." But it's not just that they were slow to react. They facilitated the disaster. There will be an investigation by a House Committee this fall.