Comments on: How Will the Next President Handle This Dire Economic Crisis http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/economic-crisis-next-president/2008/09/24/ An independent perspective on the Australian and global investment markets Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:27:32 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Ross http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/economic-crisis-next-president/2008/09/24/comment-page-1/#comment-42833 Ross Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:38:22 +0000 http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/?p=3806#comment-42833 Come on Frank, what you are really talking about is expedient regulation shopping. Mark-to-market became the street's howler only when it tagged them and most alternatives proposed are worse given the opportunity for hijinks with notional valuations. And could you justify the FASB sitting on the bank balance sheet loophole closure draft for over 3 years? And they've known all about the securitisation "risk transfer" lie for way longer than that. We saw Rubens howling about that one a few months ago didn't we, Citi would be an immediate gonner. And they are still even letting the US majors do deals to offload toxic securities while giving the buyer the option of a forced buyback by the seller if the buyer loses on the deal over time, and then they are claiming the credit for the transaction on a marked-to-market basis! And Sarbanes Oxley is all form & no outcome substance but the frauds weren't being prosecuted quickly enough were they, disclosure was crap, & the auditors were total asses and so the reaction. You could lump the auditors, all those running supposed Chinese walls, and the ratings agencies in the "financial inducement to commit crime always prevails" category and blame them for Sarbanes excesses more than the reactionary regulators. Come on Frank, what you are really talking about is expedient regulation shopping. Mark-to-market became the street's howler only when it tagged them and most alternatives proposed are worse given the opportunity for hijinks with notional valuations.

And could you justify the FASB sitting on the bank balance sheet loophole closure draft for over 3 years? And they've known all about the securitisation "risk transfer" lie for way longer than that. We saw Rubens howling about that one a few months ago didn't we, Citi would be an immediate gonner. And they are still even letting the US majors do deals to offload toxic securities while giving the buyer the option of a forced buyback by the seller if the buyer loses on the deal over time, and then they are claiming the credit for the transaction on a marked-to-market basis!

And Sarbanes Oxley is all form & no outcome substance but the frauds weren't being prosecuted quickly enough were they, disclosure was crap, & the auditors were total asses and so the reaction. You could lump the auditors, all those running supposed Chinese walls, and the ratings agencies in the "financial inducement to commit crime always prevails" category and blame them for Sarbanes excesses more than the reactionary regulators.

]]> By: John http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/economic-crisis-next-president/2008/09/24/comment-page-1/#comment-42808 John Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:33:34 +0000 http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/?p=3806#comment-42808 Dam, scary picture. Dam, scary picture.

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