Moody

Every company that needs to borrow money faces a problem. Banks demand proof that the loan will be repaid. Credit ratings solve this. Moody's rates the creditworthiness of corporations and governments. Simple enough. Except Moody's and one competitor control eighty five percent of all credit ratings in America. Here's where the power emerges. A company cannot issue debt without a rating. They cannot choose to skip it. So they must hire Moody's. They must pay for the rating. Moody's becomes invisible infrastructure that every borrower depends on. When Microsoft wants to borrow a billion dollars, Moody's decides the terms first. The duopoly is protected by regulation.