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LOOKING
FORWARD
IN ANGST
JASON
LINKINS
HUFFINGTON
03.10.13
THE DEFICIT DEBATE
NEEDS LESS FANTASY,
MORE ACCOUNTABILITY
S VETERAN CRITICS
of the post-crash financial industry well
know, one thing that
has allowed big banks to maintain
their rosy outlook is a rule change
from the Federal Accounting
Standards Board that allows these
entities — still flush with toxic
A
assets — to avoid having to mark
their assets “to market.” Instead,
banks are allowed to essentially
treat these assets as “marked to
fantasy,” a hoped-for future value
that is unlikely to ever be realized.
The banks have fought, and
beaten back, any attempt to return to a “mark to market” regime, and it’s easy to see why:
Reality comes with a cost. Should
they ever have to realize the true
Obama
speaks to
the media
on March
3, 2013,
announcing
that the
automatic
spending
cuts will
be a “slow
grind” on the
economy.