As you can see, I agree 100% with your view on ratings agency.
I have wondered if everyone in Canada stopped buying houses, cars, traveling, furniture etc, and just focused on paying down their debts, how well the economy would do. Personally, I find when you have little to no debt, banks actually become more suspicious of you. Case in point, myself. I work for a large financial institution, I have my registered and non registered investments with them, my pension, and a credit card with a 5000 limit and a zero balance. I normally pay for my credit card the same day i use it. Anyways, I decided last year to get an unsecured line of credit for 15k, just so I had it. We own 3 properties out right, and have zero debt. The bank, which i work for, was going to charge me $35 so they could do a title search on the properties to prove we owned them outright. This for an UNSECURED line of credit. I escalated a couple of levels in the bank, but they still needed proof that we owned the properties outright before they would grant me an UNSECURED line of credit...
Anyways, my thought is, if an employee of the bank with a good income, no debt, 6 figures in investments within the bank, 3 properties cannot get an unsecured line of credit, what hope does someone with mediocre credit have?
I am sure in places like Vancouver and the GTA things are out of control, maybe, but not everywhere. I guess I can always be proven wrong when the great fall comes, will need to gather grain, ammo, and spam to survive </rant> thanks for listening.