Ford pulls bond deal over rating refusal, reports Wall Street Journal

A bit more color: This is an asset backed deal not a straight corporate bond deal and thus snagged by the liability standoff with the rating agencies. For now the rating agencies are standing together and indeed have strong arguments on their side of the issue. This is just the first of many dysfunctional side effects of this damaging "reform" legislation.

Now that the rating agencies can be sued for their ratings, they don't want people to rely on their opinions? If investors don't use ratings, does that mean they'll have to do their own homework?