By now, everyone is aware that the US plans to file a civil suit against S&P (division of MHP) for - as Carl Sagan might say "Billions and Billions" of dollars.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100432491

Without going into an analysis of why S&P would be singled out, the timing seems a bit late. It certainly hasn't taken the government 5 years to figure out that the ratings agencies were the ultimate enablers of the overpricing of subprime mortgage bonds.

One might imagine it should take at most a year or so for the US to put together a case and get a complaint drafted, surely not 5 years. Methinks perhaps they got a very late start.

If one were to venture a guess as to when the government finally got around to investigating and planning a case against S&P, one might find that the date the US decided to sort of move the whole thing "off the back burner" was somewhere around August 5, 2011.

What's the significance of August 5, 2011?

That's the day that S&P downgraded the US credit rating...

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/08/05/SP-lowers-US-credi...

Yep, I think that a year and a half is more than enough time for government lawyers to investigate, put together a case and draft a complex complaint.

;-)