This Little Piggy Marked to Market
Our version of North Korea’s heroic national struggle appears to be keeping up with teh marketz. Worse than the wave after wave of failures and buyouts — at least for a conscientious commentator — is the pounding surf of new and opaque terminology, each carrying what feels like more and more analytical freight and econopocalyptic power.
The latest of these is ‘mark-to-market’.
Tim Carney is where I turn first to get sane quick about what the heck is going on. Only afterward can I brave the blogs. Hilzoy, posting at The Washington Monthly, thinks we’re crazy to switch to some other thing called ‘mark-to-model’. Barry Ritholtz leads with this quote:
“Suspending mark-to-market accounting, in essence, suspends reality.” -Beth Brooke, global vice chair, at Ernst & Young
And Mark Thoma has fun, via Andrew Leonard, pointing out that mark-to-market reaches across the aisle.
My role remains restricted to providing links, inventing timely portmanteau words, and coining ruefully humorous catchphrases — a sector of journalism which will never go out of business.
Yet another philosopher who fights Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety, and loses.
If you know what I mean, you know what I mean.
— JA · Oct 7, 01:11 AM · #
James; you conspicuously excluded peddling doom and gloom and frenzied fascination as one such conspicuous sector; the very life-blood of perennial journalism (and just how your characteristically thoughtful critique fits into your model of characteristically unreflective journalism apart from its nature as du jour is mildly mysterious).
Seems as if contra JA you have indeed constrained the lawful Variety demanded by the apparently infamous but otherwise unfamiliar Ashby.
Your facility with portmanteau words surpasses journalistic custom as well; I do love ‘econolyptic’ and hope to make use of it. Making hay while the hurricane threatens and sunshine is absent or at least intensely transient and all.
— felix culpa · Oct 7, 01:12 PM · #
RE: your last paragraph
I’m so glad you do!
Yes, I heard an interviewee on npr last week stating that this looked like the collapse of Western society—unless I missed a word or two as I was draining spaghetti.
— Joules · Oct 7, 04:40 PM · #
FASB has a website.
Suspending Mark-to-market would be very profitable to Wells Fargo.
they bought a company for how much? With the lights on. Now turn off the lights please so we can sell it for what it is worth.
— Brian · Oct 15, 01:23 PM · #