The Fed, now in continual panic mode, Extends Emergency Borrowing Program.



The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it was extending its emergency borrowing program to Wall Street firms and was taking other steps to ease a tight credit market that has hobbled the national economy.



The Fed said the program, in which investment houses can tap the central bank for a quick source of cash, will be available through Jan. 30. Originally the program, started on March 17, was supposed to last until mid-September.



Another program, in which investment firms can temporarily swap more risky investments for safer Treasury securities, also will continue through Jan. 30, the Fed said. It also will let commercial banks, in a separate program, bid on cash loans that last longer — for 84 days — besides the 28-day loans now available.



FASB Postpones Off-Balance-Sheet Rule for a Year

The Financial Accounting Standards Board postponed a measure, opposed by Citigroup Inc. and the securities industry, forcing banks to bring off-balance-sheet assets such as mortgages and credit-card receivables back onto their books.



FASB, the Norwalk, Connecticut-based panel that sets U.S. accounting standards, voted 5-0 today to delay the rule change until fiscal years starting after Nov. 15, 2009. The board needs to give financial institutions more time to prepare for the switch, FASB member Thomas Linsmeier said at a board meeting.



"We need to get a new standard into effect," Linsmeier said, though " it's not practical " to begin requiring companies to put assets underlying securitizations onto their books this year.



Citigroup's Mysterious Shadow Assets

Did Citigroup Know In Advance?

Citigroup Inc. Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden said earnings will probably be strong enough to absorb any losses created when new accounting rules force it to move off-balance-sheet securities onto its books.



"There's likely to be a fair amount of time between now and when that event actually takes place, and that's a time period in which we intend to generate a very significant amount of capital," Crittenden said today on a conference call with investors. "We think we have it well in hand."

SEC may turn a blind eye to this

Merrill Lynch Sells CDOs at 5.5 cents on the dollar

Nonsense Does Not Stop There

OK For USA To Turn Japanese

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.



Question: How can anyone value a financial company if they cannot tell what are on their balance sheets?



Answer: You cannot. If you buy a financial under these conditions, you are flying blind.



Investment Thesis: Ritholtz Rule #1: Know What You Own.

Whoever buys Financials under these circumstances loses the right to whine down the road about companies not being forthcoming. If you own them, don't complain when you get what you deserve.

Not "Practical" To Tell The Truth

We hear from apologists that banks selling stock will "heal" the system. But again that's not how it works. It only transfers wealth from one part of the system to another because wealth is not being created. There's no production, only transfer. It's a hallmark of deflation that companies sell stock. That is deflationary. People have to use cash to buy stock. So cash goes from investors who have less cash to buy things with, to banks who use it to write down debt. But the point is banks selling stocks to investors reduces liquidity, it does not increase it.



The government’s strategy is to buy time. It always is. Time allows it to slowly drain wealth from the poor/middle class and re-distribute it to the rich who own the financial system.

