In my last post, I quoted an anonymous German decisionmaker saying that the ratings agencies were deliberately trying to destabilise the euro. But this kind of paranoia is now being spouted, on-the-record. This morning’s FT contained these two choice quotes. Martin Schulz, MEP, called the S&P downgrade “a targeted attack” on the euro, designed to distract attention from the US budget deficit. (That would be the same S&P that downgraded the US itself, over the summer?) Elmar Brok, another German MEP, said the agencies were pursuing “Angl0-American interests.” I do wish Brok would stop beating about the bush. Read more