But Migeru's question intrigues: What I am interested in is, to what extent the rating of countries (and to a lesser extent of companies) is politically motivated?

It's one thing to lambast the FT, the NYT, IHT, The Economist and so on. Journalist are motivated to write stuff based on corporate business and the memes that get passed down from the higher ups, (certainly if you'd believe the stories about FoxNews).

It's another thing to step to the fore and criticize on similar grounds the holy temples of economics. We've had rabid discussion on Greenspan and the Fed and to me it seems (as an ignorant observer) that economic ideology sways the decision direction of the Fed. Even here political motivations were suspected. But in how far are these ideologies present in for example in Standard and Poor's?