[quote=bubba99]
If Mark to market accting was still required (or the off balance sheet vehicles) were required to be included, most banks would be in receivership[/quote]
If mark-to-market accounting were required of most US citizens, a large percentage of them would be in “receivership” (re: bankrupt) as well. (That is, their liabilities are greater than their assets on a liquidation basis.)
To use an obvious example, consider just about every college student that graduates with a student loan.
Fortunately, we don’t apply mark-to-market accounting to these folks because most people (although clearly not all) are able to earn their way out of “insolvency” over time (with “cash flow”)… just as we are allowing the Big Banks to do, rightly or wrongly.
