Senators, While You Are At It . . .

The United States Senate is in the mood tonight to vote quickly without much debate:

Breaking: Senate Passes Rescue Bill

By a vote of 74-25, the Senate just approved the revised version of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue bill rejected Monday by the House.

The bill now heads to the House for a vote, likely on Friday. Some of the revisions included in the Senate bill were designed to win the support of House Republicans who voted against the first bill.

- Frank Ahrens

Perhaps that august body should, while its in this mood, vote up or down on some other matters within its purview. After it just demonstrated that an up-or-down vote doesn't take much time at all.

Mark to Market Rule is Not the Problem

Prof. Ribstein writes:

Yesterday the FASB and the SEC relieved banks from marking securities to market prices that reflect “fire sale” values. . . . But wait: mark-to-market accounting just tells us reality. Shutting our eyes to that just kills the messenger, doesn’t it?

By allowing assets to be underreported, effectively the SEC has decreased
reserve requirements of banks without explicitly doing so.