Apropos of What I Did Not Know

Earlier this month, I described the aspects of the financial crisis that I really didn't see coming, one of which was the misaligned incentives of the major credit rating agencies.  Yesterday, the SEC made this announcement:

The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted unanimously to take several rulemaking actions to bolster oversight of credit ratings agencies by enhancing disclosure and improving the quality of credit ratings.

That sounds like a good first step, but SEC oversight is only as good as the SEC's ability to resist manipulation by those it oversees.