Who is really behind the rating agencies that are talked about so frequently during the financial crisis? What criteria do they work with?For the first time, this volume exposes the ownership structure of the three big agencies: They are the largest hedge and investment funds, drawing profits from the large and long-lasting indebtedness of companies, countries, and consumers. A glance at the practice of rating agencies shows: They receive their power from their owners, but also through a national and supranational watchdog role. Together with funds, banks, governments, central banks, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, they are part of the financial powers that be. As supposedly independent and objective guardians of the market, they help their owners to disown companies, governments, and entire economies. For this, they shy away neither from suggestive ratings nor from orchestrated crises.