[txnativegop]

What else are we to believe? That the purpose of accounting, to track everything a business does monetarily. If it doesn’t work, then why use that system.

[JasonC]

I believe dollars in and dollars out. I do not believe ridiculous rules that pretend some of them are "earnings" and others are not, demand that possible losses we capitalized immediately on the worst possible assumptions of the lowest bidder, but forbid gains to be capitalized under any circumstances, etc.

On any rational accounting basis, the major banks are sound and will earn large profits in the future, in real dollars, provided only that they are not seized at gunpoint by idiots from the government.

I believe what Citi and B of A tell me about their cash flows and their breakdowns, about their charge offs and their loan loss experiences. I do not believe GAAP "earnings" crapola, mark to default accounting, projecting losses forever provisioning, pretending that liabilities that cost 2-3 are worth more than assets that pay 6-8, etc, etc, ad nauseum - in the slightest.