Misty, I fully agree with your assessment that mark to market is not the cause of the problem.

The jokers who argue to relax it do so because of a "liquidity crisis" ... that crisis is born of moronic expectations of ever increasing asset prices, extreme use of leverage to buy overvalued assets followed by the stark realization that assets don't always go up, not everyone can afford what the buy, and that the leverage generated to create massive bonuses through what amounted to unregulated gambling by these "credible" financial institutions resulted in the sane decision to stop buying the crap the banks were selling.

Without a market, under mark to market the value is zero for these suspect assets of indeterminate value. Whether or not they have value is for me of less consequence that the fact that a move away fromthere is a violation of one of accounting's most important principles .... conservatism ...

It is apparent in our society that the elimination of the use of principles which began as a relatively small disease is now endemic. The final strain for the diseases propogation occured in 1971 when for political expediency a crook repealed the use of the gold standard.

Gold is more than a safe haven ... at some point it will be a lifeline for North Americans, a way to escape the inevitable totalitarianism caused by the complete and total corruption of leaders of the worlds superpower. When the collapse occurs it is unlikely that North America can organize anything and thus anarchy will prevail.

PS ... I agree all of the goodwill shoulld be written off, although there is a normal amortization period, the actions of so many companies and the fact many of them are bankrupt precludes the possibility of any goodwill being left.

Stick with Shiff, Farber, Roubini they are beacons of honesty in a world of darkness.

orgy