"Structured by cows and we would rate it"

That's how one analyst at Standard & Poors spoke of a proposed structured finance deal in an e-mail appearing in an SEC report on the ratings agencies. Another analyst called a deal "ridiculous" and commented "we should not be rating it". A manager of a group rating CDOs referred to this market as a house of cards when he wrote in an e-mail, " Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters."

And we wonder why this market has blown up!