It would appear to me that one of the simpliest ways to slow the snowballing effect of financial institutions declaring insolvency (due to lack of a necessary asset base) is to cancel the mark to market rule which if I recall was a product of S/O of the Enron era. Mark to Market takes otherwise good mortgages (or any asset) in a undelying financial field and values them or lumps them with similar but tainted or worthless assets. Because there is one rotten apple does it mean that all apples are rotten?

Mark to Market is in my opinion making all of this a self fulfilling event. The more firms that go under, the more are put on the path of going under. The more that go under the more that cannot lend to the public and private companies and the public anymore the more businesses that cannot obtain credit the more businesses go under the more businesses go under the more people are out of a job the more out of a job the more mortgages in default and we are back to the top arc of the circle.

There are other fixes that are significant that need to be made in the financial institution regulatory world but I would say the immediate is get rid of Mark to Market.

I have tried to not be political here but it would help if Obama's top economic aide's were not the former heads of Freddie and Fannie.....speak of the fox in the hen house

God Bless

marc