Sub-prime mortage crisis is a deja vue

The FT reported today that the European Commission is to investigate credit ratings agencies for their failure to act quickly enough to warn investors about the risks of investing in securities backed by US subprime mortgages.
Why did the agencies fail to act quickly? The report suggested that there could be an issue of conflict of interest since agencies are paid by the issuers, not the users, of their ratings. Besides, another credit ratings agencies also offer consultancy and other supplemental services to issuers, potentially creating conflicts of interest.
Having read the report, I could not help thinking of the Enron collapse a few years ago. It is nothing but a deja vue.
In the issue of Enron collapse, the auditors had been blamed for their close ties with the company they should have audited independently. Many people realized that there was a serious issue of conflict of interest between auditors and those audited. In the case of Enron, Anderson not only was paid by the energy trading firm for their traditional accounting services, but also their consulting services to the same client. Accounting and consulting is simply incompatible. The auditors played a double role of both judge and jury.
Unfortunately, the human kind tend to forget the past, and the Enron collapse, which triggered off a great market upheaval, seems to have failed to prompt the financial market to review all those systems where there might be an issue of conflict of interest.
Now similar things have happened, although this time its not the auditors, but the ratings agency.
It could be helpful to review history for bankers or financial regulators when they are free from counting money.