re: "Mark To Make Believe"

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I think you would see a minimal rally followed by further obfuscation of balance sheets, and increased investor skepticism. I see the argument/disadvantage to some mark to market related things, although I still believe that is an auditor/enforcement issue as opposed to a pure statement issue. I almost wish they would change it just to show that changing it now makes almost no difference.

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Some of the traders interviewed on CNBC today were expecting a surge in financials with relaxation of M2M. It’s anyone guess.

I have not kept up with disclosure requirements around the impaired assets, but my guess is that this reporting needs to be expanded. For example, I believe Allstate’s write-down of its investment portfolio was in the $16B range, nearly four times larger than its Katrina losses which were approximately $4B. Regardless of what is decided with M2M, I doubt that readers of financial statements will have adequate information on asset values to make sound investment decisions. Investor uncertainty will not help the market.