H&S

It's the Capital, Not Liquidity, Stupid

Whatever it is they better get it right quick before the economy goes into paralysis!!!!
A very quick fix could be to suspend the "Mark-to-Market' rule. This is a siily rule that has no scientific basis for its implementation as the crystal-ball of markets has never been found or defined-especially not by the green eye-shade folks!!!!!

The Dummy's Guide to the U.S. Financial Crisis

Let's hope the proposed solution gets put in place in spite of John Mc Pain's efforts to derail it.
How can anyone support this unstable lunatic???
As a long-time Republican I am embarassed for my party and its long history of fiscal discipline and social conservatism.
It has become a party of fringe religious lunatics[Sarah Palin and her witchcraft minister] as well as a Senator who has not released his medical records. At first, I though it was because of his medical history with cancers. I am beginning to think there may be certain medical records relating to his mental instability. Well, if he keeps behaving as he has, we do not need doctors to tell us he's nuts-we are seeing it!!!
BTW, the writer forgot to mention that the insistence on "Free Markets-No Regulation" by McCain and others that has allowed the crazy environment of CDO's/CMO's, etc.
Capitalism needs regulation if we are to have a level-playing field, and that is what was missing here. What has happened here, is akin to having the next World Series or SuperBowl played without rules.
We need temporary stability followed by reasonable financial markets regulation or .................?

Global Capital Asset Death Spiral

The FASB and the well-meaning but not so bright accountants behind it are the ones to blame for mark-to-market as well as allowing the financial crisis we are experiencing.They are the ones who represented to the stockholders as little as one year ago that the assets of many of these financial companies were not impaired when if had they understood NINJA and Derivatives they would have warned otherwise.
Only aggressive prosecution of corporate executives who misrepresent or defraud will ever create transparency in markets. If we depend on the CPA's to find the needle in the haystack, there will be no hay left before they are accidentally pinched by the needle!!!!!

The Financial Crisis Explained

He forgot to mention that the Banking industry and its lobbyists put the one system that worked for home lending out of business-savings & loan associations.
Then, we brilliantly created a system run by mom&pop sized companies that would get a fee for brokering mortgages which in turn were accepted without any real underlying credit analysis by the Freddie/Fannie fiascos. These fiascos did not have a clue as to underlying credit quality and did not have to because using the full faith & credit of the good old USA they could get rid of the toilet paper they had bought on a global basis and get another fee for it.
Further, whereas the S&L's had some controls and local market knowledge, many of the unregulated mortgage brokers did whatever it took to keep the fees coming in together with the realtors and appraisers[MAI- Made AS Instructed].
Finally, my fellow Republicans need to remember that free markets need rules just like football/basketball/ba... which we all understand would be no fun without rules. Rules make the playing-field level and tend to highlight the rule-breakers more quickly!!!!!
John McCain has not learned this lesson yet-will he ever????