Hello Rusty,

Your answer is thoughtful and well-considered, in my opinion. Thank you for sharing it with folks.

Undoubtedly the financial profession has lobbied/does lobby for changes to accounting standards. I am a fan of mark-to-market, but only as a complement to earlier standards. Due to mark-to-market accounting there are anecdotal reports of financial institutions managing the end of the quarter balance sheet in conjunction with shadow banks and hedge funds inr oder to present the prettiest of pictures. Clearly, this has brought a level of absurdity to financial statements. However, I also know that the firm for whom I dedicated my portfolio management years, along with many others, felt that stock options were an expense and so should appear in the income statement. So the lobbying hasn't entirely been misguided, in my opinion.

Again, thank you for sharing your point of view,

Jason