[tongass kid]

In this situation there are items that Bear owns that have lost value, the rule for these items requires that the value be marked down to reflect the market value. This is a negative for Bear's balance sheet and greatly reduces the overall value of Bear. Forbes believes that a lack of market adjustment to book value for these negative items helps Bear remain solvent.

[vietvet67]

That’s the problem....Hard to establish market value when there are NO bids for the toxic instruments.

Seems like suspending the mark to market rules till the clouds clear and these instruments start trading on some kind of rational basis would save many firms.