Moody’s28 revenue from so-called structured-finance ratings increased by more than 800 percent between 1997 and 2007 and came to represent the majority of their ratings business during the bubble years.29 These products helped Moody’s to the highest profit margin of any company in the S&P 500 for five consecutive years during the housing bubble.30 (In 2010, even after the bubble burst and the problems with the ratings agencies had become obvious, Moody’s still made a 25 percent profit.
