A Few Points About The SEC And The New Bill

Today, the SEC adopted one of Anthony Randazzo's proposals from the free market proposals I recommended:

"Third, the SEC should suspend the "mark-to-market" accounting rules for long-term assets that are driving firms into bankruptcy. Essentially, these regulatory rules are forcing firms to value their assets at much lower prices than what they would be worth long-term. The intent of mark-to-market regulation was to keep firms from overvaluing themselves and deceiving investors. Instead the law has artificially devalued financial institutions as a whole, which hurts their investors. As Steve Forbes noted recently, "The mark-to-market mania of regulators and accountants is utterly destructive. It is like fighting a fire with gasoline."

This accounting clause has significantly contributed to the bankruptcies (or near bankruptcies) of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Washington Mutual, and many others. In order to keep firms from overvaluing themselves, Newt Gingrich has proposed a three-year rolling average mark-to-market policy.'

Here from the Washington Post:

"Under intense political pressure, regulators for securities and accounting standards this afternoon issued what they called a "clarification" to provisions that have come under fire from bank executives and some lawmakers for contributing to the credit crisis...

The standard, also known as "mark to market," has led portfolios to plunge in recent months as banks affixed fire sale prices to their assets, a move that sometimes required them to raise still more capital to meet regulatory requirements. The measure also led to clashes between corporate executives and independent auditors over how low the markdowns should be forced to dip. "

Also, I backed this proposal from Jim Harper of Cato which looks to be in the new bill:

"And from the “This May Make Some Sense” department, there’s H.R. 6986, which would raise the maximum Federal deposit insurance coverage to $200,000. This seems to update the amounts covered by federal deposit insurance not in response to the crisis, but in response to the possibility that it could be needed. Nice to see someone possibly getting ahead of the curve, rather than following along behind it. But I have to say “least bad” is not high praise . . ."

Here from the NY Times:

"But those Democratic opponents did say that they would be willing to back an increase to $250,000, from $100,000, in the amount of a bank deposit that would be insured by the federal government — an idea that on Tuesday gained fast currency as a consensus change in the initial plan.

Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain early Tuesday both embraced the deposit insurance proposal, sparking a bit of a political tiff over who deserved credit for initiating it. House Republicans claimed to have offered the insurance increase in weekend negotiations over the plan only to have it rejected."

I might also add that Randazzo advocated tax breaks, but probably not these being considered:

"The Senate tax bill would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production and use of renewable energy sources, like solar energy and wind power. The bill would also extend the business tax credit for research and development, expand the child tax credit, protect millions of families from the alternative minimum tax and provide tax relief to victims of recent floods, tornadoes and severe storms.

Members of the House and the Senate say the bill would create tens of thousands of jobs and reduce the nations’ dependence on foreign oil. But the two chambers have been at odds over whether and how to offset the cost of extending the many tax breaks covered by the legislation. The major obstacle has been Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, and other centrist Democrats."

Maybe Randazzo would be for the business tax breaks.

"Second, Congress could cut corporate taxes and small business taxes in general. Trimming taxes for "the rich" opens up new capital to be invested in a struggling economy. At a time when investor confidence in the stock market is low, a tax cut for businesses would encourage innovation and entrepreneurial activity. The effects would be similar to that of a stimulus package, only without the government's involvement or a redistribution of wealth."

More about this new bill as I find out more about it, and understand it.