[GOPJ]

Without mark to market, ascertaining the actual net worth of businesses becomes more difficult. There were few complaints about mark to market accounting rules until the last several months, when the financial derivative markets started collapsing.. Derivatives are nothing more than a shell game of moving money from one place to another, a problem far worse than the commercial real estate problems of 20 years ago. When all was said and done, even after “flips”, overstated appraisals, and declining markets, there was still a tangible asset that would retain some fractional value. With derivatives, there is nothing, toxic waste, as Warren Buffett has said.

Measured words - what do you think should be done, Wallace T.

[Wallace T.]

Let the bankrupt financial entities and manufacturers fail and have the market sort it out.

Neither the Bush nor the Obama Administrations have been willing to allow the market to deal with these institutions that are beyond bankrupt. We are witnessing a repeat of the 1930s approach of government market manipulation through increased regulation, subsidies, and welfare programs that resulted in the Depression lasting for over a decade, in contrast with earlier panics, which usually resolved in a year or two.