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18 Comments
- WordsnCollision, on 11/06/2009, -0/+17If they have losses, why shouldn't they have to acknowledge them? It's this legal cooking of the books that creates the impression of the 2-tier system of accountability, among other things.
- JoeHague, on 11/07/2009, -0/+12The Federal government tallies the unemployment rate by counting claims. They don't account for claims that have run out or people unable to collect unemployment insurance.
Police departments and District Attorneys, drop or lower charges, to hide facts about violent crimes.
If our elected officials and sworn civic servants cannot report society's ills accurately, how can we expect private business to accurately report earnings? - eastwood24, on 11/06/2009, -0/+5hooray for mark to make believe.
/s - Gigglecream, on 11/07/2009, -0/+5 "...the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the obscure nonprofit that sets bookkeeping rules for U.S. companies"
Obscure? The FASB (yes, it's well-known enough to have an acronym) has been setting U.S. accounting standards since 1973.
As for the "controversial change" of recording assets at fair value, the banks seemed to have had no problem with this when the assets were increasing in price. Now they are against it because the value of their loans are falling and will have to show losses?
All the FASB is concerned with is presenting a more accurate picture of the economic performance of the banks. Investors benefit from this and the market benefits from this. The banks are concerned with nothing but window-dressing. It's thinking like that that led to the housing bubble. It's better to recognize the losses as they occur over time rather than waiting until the bubble bursts. - tgc1, on 11/07/2009, -0/+4When big business engages in "Creative Accounting" they are rewarded with Bailouts. When you and me do that, we end up in federal prison. How nice.
- faskippy, on 11/07/2009, -1/+5Uh oh. Just imagine if we audited the Fed, too! Can we handle the truth? /s
- pak314, on 11/07/2009, -0/+3"The Federal government tallies the unemployment rate by counting claims."
No they do a sampling poll... - johnwayne1, on 11/07/2009, -0/+2Sad that honesty is so scary to banks.
- necoates, on 11/07/2009, -1/+3I don't see this happening, as it would tank the stock market, and that seems to be the only thing the government is interested in propping up.
scamorbam.com - mriegger, on 11/07/2009, -0/+2Careful, that could be a thought crime in the not-too-distant future
- bradleyland, on 11/07/2009, -1/+2No, no, no. It's not cooking the books. It's "leveraging". It's good for the economies. Really, it is!
- MyFriendRandy, on 11/07/2009, -0/+1The link is down. Anybody got a mirror? Thanks!
- woodrail, on 11/07/2009, -1/+2Excellent, that's how we make everybody behave better so the world is a better place : MORE RULES! It works so well.
No, laws were made to be gamed. We'd be better making our government-level decisions by online voter decree.
Sorry banks, everybody knows you're a pack of venemous fiends - so ya, we're taking everything. Sorry, no, no appeal. The citizens have spoken. You got like -5000 diggs. - AmnesiacJack, on 11/07/2009, -1/+2Honestly I'm kind of scared of the truth behind our government and banking system.
Seriously. I'm pretty sure if the truth did come out the entire system would collapse and some serious "end of times" style human craziness might go down.
Seriously. - settheory, on 11/07/2009, -0/+1Wow that comment is just ridiculous. So many leaps in logic I don't even know where to start. But I have a few questions:
- What is the link between reporting society's ills and earnings? Can I use this argument on my taxes? "How am I supposed to know how much I made last year, I don't even know how many robberies there were in my neighborhood".
- Police and DA are letting criminals go to hide violent crimes? I am going to have to see a citation on this one. "You're lucky punk, we've already had three murders this year and we're going to have to let you go".
- Were those really the only two examples of poor government accounting you could come up with? A politically motivated unemployment metric (which admittedly nearly everyone hates) and DA dropping charges to hide crime rates? Really? Come on it's the US government.
- Isn't the whole point of capitalism that private industry out performs the public sector? If that is the case then why is the government's poor accounting imply that banks can't report earning correctly. If my understanding of economics is correct then the banks should be able to chant "free market" three times and the problem should be solved. - freakFlag, on 11/07/2009, -0/+1Personally, I feel that its time for this to change because keeping those losses off income statements just delays the realization of the losses.
Ignoring bad debt and postponing inevitable losses was one of the main reasons behind Japan's decade-long economic slump that began in the 1990s. Japanese banks deferred the recognition of their losses, aided by regulators who refrained from implementing the rules and U.S. regulators may be tempted to go soft on banks too. - boozedrinker, on 11/07/2009, -0/+1As a Ford shareholder, I think I would demand that they tell me and report what went wrong if an entire factory turned up missing.
- AmnesiacJack, on 11/07/2009, -1/+1Honestly I'm kind of scared of the truth behind our government and banking system.
Seriously. I'm pretty sure if the truth did come out the entire system would collapse and some serious "end of times" style human craziness might go down.
Seriously guys.
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