Mark to Mark Snark

CJR's Ryan Chittum heaps praise on the WSJ for covering the aggressive lobbying underway by the [State-sponsored] financial sector.

Mark to Mark accounting went away because the banks don't like it anymore. The insanity of the situation is nicely summed up in this exchange:

Last year, [SEC's chief accountant] Mr. Hewitt recalls, he challenged [American Bankers Association] lobbyist Donna Fisher and a Wells Fargo executive on their valuation complaints. “If you say you’re required to value the securities at 50 cents,” he recalls asking, “and you believe that the securities are really worth 80 or 90 cents, do you have a lot of buyers because of this unusually low valuation?”

The two responded that there were no buyers, according to Mr. Hewitt.

“Then maybe the securities should be valued at less than 50 cents,” Mr. Hewitt says he responded.

 Chittum's retort is perfect:

But what’s logic when you’ve got cash?