wakeup call

Securities and Exchange Commission and Mark to Market Changes

A move away from mark to market accounting for investments that are long term holds will lessen the artificial liquidity squeeze effecting may compnies. The logic of marking a synthetic security down based on perception where the underlying loans are performing is ludicrous. Deal with the problem loans as they become an issue rather than dealing with a synthetic security which has been downgraded by rating agencies because of fear of litigation. A move away from mark to market accounting will turn the $700 billion bailout of the financial markets into a much more fixable probelm. Moving on this issue before the election would have left both parties with egg on their faces since after hyping the magnitude of the bailout to then reduce it to a manageable size with a simple accounting change could have been embarassing. The election is over lets let sanity prevail and fix it properly.