From The Big Picture
Just when you think there is a glimmer of hope that some of these ne’er do well, lying, cheating, sniveling, cowardly bank CEOs might finally be forced to step up to the confessional and tell all, this comes along: FASB Postpones Off-Balance-Sheet Rule for a Year.
Which makes me wonder: How precarious is the financial health of the US banks and brokers that they need yet another year before they can, oh, I don’t know — disclose what they own on their balance sheets?
Things must be even worse then we think. How convenient this came just days after Merrill sold those CDOs for 22 cents on the dollar, something which presumably meant other banks and investment houses would now have to price their toxic garbage to realistic rather than fantasy values. Now they don’t have to. They can continue their charade of pretending the garbage has value, thus propping up their balance sheets.