New California Hijinks

So California is going to start paying certain vendors (including citizens awaiting their tax refunds) with IOU's. Nice.

Also, last night, the FDIC set a weekly record for this credit crisis by closing 7 banks in one day (6 in Illinois). Of course, they closed many more during the S&L crisis, but banks were smaller then and didn't have multiple branches. Dollar-for-dollar, including after adjusting for inflation, we've already outstripped the S&L, and we've only really just begun.

The stuff about the economy "stabilizing" is pretty funny/grim: the analogy is that we are no longer crashing into the ground at 300 mph, but instead only crashing into the ground at 100 mph. But in the end, we're still going to be smashed to bits.

I'm Still Here

Thanks to the excellent care I received from 3 of you I am feeling great and am back to my exercise class - plus a new one that is harder. This will help get me ready for London although I think Twiggy is going to be the one who is dragging.

Chip, I loved the dress. I agree with Roothy - you have a career.

I am making vegan spaghetti tonight for two friends (and Charles) using veggie burgers in the sauce. I have cut WAY down on cheese - I seem to eat a lot of butter, however. One thing at a time.

I will have a better blog when I get back from England.

Let's Get the Party Started!

Roothy, you're back. As soon as I saw your post I got up and ate a grapefruit. Okay, 1/2 a grapefruit, the 3 smews are here and I didn't feel like cutting up four so I just cut up 2 and said 1/2 is a serving. I have been trying to practise the 5 a day but so far have only been successful on the weekends. I can't remember if anyone else said they were going to give my challenge a go too.

Momcat? Kipsy? Anyone, Anyone?

Mrs. Spottletoe moves up in the world

Two years ago, Sharon helped me make a skirt for Dickens Fair. I wore it with a white blouse (boring!) I needed to make a bodice to go with it.

Anya had a pattern that was the wrong size for her, so she gave it to me. I found that I did not have enough matching fabric to make the whole bodice, so with Sharon's advice, I decided to cut off the bottom of my skirt (gasp!) to make the sleeves for the bodice.

I found a bed ruffle at Savers that was the same gold color as the stripe in my skirt, and sewed it to the bottom. Then I found some old curtains at Savers with this really great tassel fringe on them.

I'm going to use the curtain fabric (sans fringe) to make a 50s dance dress (the pattern for which I won on ebay for 10 bucks.) I also got some old pink curtains which I am using to make a cartridge-pleated skirt (to go with the white blouse) for the Victorian Picnic that I hope will happen again this year.

What I've Done with UncleSam's Leftovers

Uncle Sam left a lot of delicious leftover vegan ingredients. So far, I have made (listing only the ingredients she left behind):

a nice sambar (recipe earlier in the blog) using celery, onions, potatoes, carrots, zucchini

a mock chicken salad using tofu, celery, green pepper, Veganaise, and Bacos (served on spring mix--though that was on its last legs)

lentil soup using onions, potatoes, carrots, celery

cut cantelope as a side dish

I also ate her leftover bechamel/macaroni/fake meat casserole thingie.

It's been a lot of fun trying to use it all up so it doesn't go bad. It made me think that there should be a reality tv chef show where the contestants have to show up in a randomly selected US household and cook a meal using whatever happens to be in the fridge and pantry.

Sorry, haven't posted in a while.

Before roothy yells at us, I decided to break down and post even though I have nothing to say.

I went to Texas to "nurse" Momcat after her surgery for 9 days in the middle of the month. I haven't checked how that threw off my finances but I think I was able to get the tickets for not too, too bad. The food issue was another matter. The only soy milk choice was Silk (which I like, but I like to change around too), one vegan butter choice, Smart Balance Lite and finally, after going to several stores to look, we found some Yo Soy yogurt. The most annoying thing was we kept accidentally buying things with hidden animal products in the processed foods I guess we should have stayed away from anyway. Smart Balance regular has whey in it, I bought some whole wheat poptarts that I checked and checked again but Kipsy found gelatin in the frosting and most irritatingly because we spent 30 minutes looking at each brand, some canned biscuits that had beef tallow in them! I will never complain about only being able to get the Tofutti Sour Supreme with the white top at my local Safeway ever again.

Other than that I was able to get all the ingredients to cook healthy meals for Mom and Woody and sometimes Kipsy every day I was there. I pretty much made all my standards that I can make in my sleep but Mom really liked all of them and I was able to sneak in enough fruit and vegetables that I think we even made the minimum standards of 5 - 9 servings a day. My big treat was finally being able to go to Spiral Diner. I just love supporting a vegan restaurant in Ft. Worth Texas and it was packed on a weekday pre-lunch crowd!

I brought enough books and DVDs to entertain myself while waiting for Momcat to wake from her daily naps and/or Woody to get off work so I was prepared for a lot of sitting around. We did do a small amount of thrift store shopping but I was hoping Ft. Worth would be cheaper than San Mateo but it was not and the selection was not as good either. Oh well, as it turns out, DFW airport are sticklers for the 2 bag rule and they made me condense the "Bullet" off brand personal blender I bought at Macy's (for 19.99,regularly 49.99!) and wouldn't have been able to bring anything home anyway.

It was nice having Momcat all to myself for that long of time and I realized when I saw Woody that it had been about 10 years since I've last laid eyes on him and it was very good to here him being comfortable and secure in his new job that pays well, has medical insurance AND appreciates him. I didn't get to see Kipsy at all until the last day and 1/2 but she was looking beautiful as always and also very happy in her new position. I was very sad that Roothy, who is taking over the next weeks nursing duties didn't get there before I had to go to the airport but I would have loved to see her new car.

So, my cheap Califonian sisters...

Did you vote today?

Looks like it isn't going to pass. Either way, California is going to have to figure out what the hell to do with its life tomorrow morning...

My meager attempts to reduce spending...

The ticket I got a few weeks ago finally came in the mail. It is $202 plus an additional $57 to take the traffic school (which is a must to keep the insurance from going up) plus the actual cost of the traffic school: about $300 as I suspected.

I went online to see what my options were. I SWEAR I did not see ANYONE in the crosswalk, but to take the ticket to court would mean suggesting the police officer either lied or was mistaken. They could just as easily come to the same conclusion about me. But deep in the small print I saw an option to go to court and either plead "not guilty" or "no contest" and the judge might reduce the fine based on one's driving record. So I took that route. I went to court, spent about 3 hours waiting for my case to come up. I didn't really say much, because I couldn't figure how to plead my case without just sounding like I was whining, but the judge acknowledged my good driving record and reduced my fine. He reduced to it to $15 (yay!) which, plus the state fees and the traffic school charges, came to $183 (hey, wait a minute...) I guess that's better than $259. So I took an on-line traffic school (took about 3 hours) for $20, and now its all done. It still rankles me though. Thirty-one years without a ticket!!!

I fixed my front fence by myself, instead of hiring someone. Two of the posts were rotted in the ground, and were wobbly. I purchased some metal sleeves that go around the base of the post, and pounded them in with a sledge hammer. My next goal is to paint the fence so that it is again a "white picket fence". I also need to fix the back fence, but I need to work with my neighbor on that, and she needs to get rid of her bamboo forest first.

I think I told you already about fixing the leak under my sink. I had to replace several of the pipes and fittings, but I did it!

I'm hoping to put mulch down on the yard, to control the weeds, and make it look nice without having to have grass. Easier to take care of, and no watering!

I read an article about checking ones toilets for leaks. It suggested putting food dye in the tank, and if the dye is in the bowl after about 15 minutes, there is a leak. Well, the dye was in the bowl, so I bought new flapper valves (I believe that's the technical term) and replaced them. Then the toilets did a double flush, which obviously used way more water than the stupid leaks did! I called the water department, to yell at them for suggesting I replace the valves to save water, and now they were using even more. She thought I was crazy for asking HER, she said I should call a plumber to fix it (yeah, right!) Anyway, I asked the water department to come out to do a water use survey and to check for leaks. When the guy arrived, I explained about the toilets, and he said I should have replaced the valve with the same kind of valve. The valves SAY they're "universal" but they're not. My old valves had little floats on them. So back to the store for valves with the floats (couldn't take the old ones back for a refund, because I'd had to cut a tab off them to install them.) Now the toilets flush fine. I talked to the guy about my concerns about my water bill. Almost every month, I use 4 ccfs of water, and then one month it went up to six and then was 5 for a couple of months. I wanted to ask if it could be a leak or something. He said, "That's a very low bill. Most people on average use about 2 or 3 ccfs per person per month. How many people live here?" "Uh, five." "Wow." So anyway, I'm not getting much sympathy or help to lower my bill, but it should be lower now that I've got the toilets fixed!

PG&E just replaced our electric meter for one that they can read remotely. I was talking to the installer, joking about how in ten years the meters would be obsolete since we wouldn't have any energy left. He said no, there was lots of natural gas, but acknowledged that it didn't address the global warming problem. He said he expected a lot of people to switch over to solar, and I said I had looked into it, but since my electric bill was only $50 a month, it would never pay for itself. He was amazed my bill was that low, even though we have a washer and electric dryer (which Pammy does her laundry in also.) So I guess I'm doing a pretty good job at conserving, huh?

However, Max has taken three showers this week (which is more than he's taken in the last three months.) I explained that it's great that he's taking more showers, but if he's going to take one every day, they need to be 5 minutes. A half- to an hour-long shower is only allowed if you take only one a month!!

Just think how much money I could save if I didn't have these rotten kids!!

Easy Lentil Soup

I don't know if this counts as a good lentil soup but it's what I do when I'm lazy and trying to use up cans of tomato soup in my pantry and the last veggies in my fridge. (actually this was the first time I used lentils, usually I use leftover pinto navy or garbonzo beans)

Saute 1/2 chopped onion (remove the parts that are starting to sprout)

After is has cooked for a while add last few carrots from baby carrot bag (okay if outside dried out, they'll rehydrate in the soup) and about 4 half celery sticks (sliced) and saute for another few minutes. Add 1 cup dried brown (washed) lentils and 1/2 half bag frozen chopped mustard greens (or whatever greens you have fresh or frozed, just make sure they're chopped).

Stir in one can of no-name tomato soup plus 3 cans of water.

Add 2 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp oregeno and 1 tbl paprika.

Simmer on low for 45 mins. (or if you use old lentils like I did it might take a little longer). Make sure to check every now and then to see if you need to add water. Finish with juice of one slightly old lime.

Elliott gave it a 6 (out of 10) but said he doesn't like lentil soup. He did eat a whole bowl though. I give it an 8 but I think I'd have liked it better with spinach instead of mustard greens.

Happily Back to Being Part of the Problem

Last week, I purchased a brand new, 2009 Honda Fit.


I settled on the car after doing online research, and finding that it is very well recieved. I found out the MSRP and the invoice price by buying a report at Consumer Reports for $14 (though I probably could have gotten the same information for free if I looked hard enough), then I simply emailed about five or six dealers and asked them for their best price on a base model with manual transmission. About three dealers started bidding, and I managed to get one for about $650 below the dealer's bottom-line invoice price--a price that also included a $299 keyless entry system which is not standard equipment (my only upgrade). I don't think I could have gotten it any cheaper--I'm kind of amazed I managed to get it as cheap as I did. Dealers are really desperate right now to move product, even companies like Honda.

So the final price which did not include local taxes and registration fees which are uniform and fixed by the state and county, was just under $14,000. After the 10% (yes, 10%) local sales tax plus other licensing fees, I paid about $16,300 "out the door." Thanks to the stimulus package, I should be able to deduct $1400 (the sales tax) from my income next year, so I'd get 1/3 of that back, or $470. This means complete out-the-door price for me including adjusted taxes was about $15,800.

You can subtract the value I got for my 2001 Toyota Prius, which needed a $4900 repair to the hybrid battery and controlling computer. Amazingly, my old mechanic bought it from me for $2500. So true final price to me of the new car was $13,300. Because of all the safety features, amazingly, my monthly insurance cost is almost exactly the same. Also amazingly, I am getting about the same mpg as I did with the Prius--in the neighborhood of 40 mpg.

Thus blowing all to hell my plans to save, save, save and be frugal this year. But the car, she is cool. And my bike fits in the back.

Coal's Grandmother died

It's technically his step-grandmother, but he knew her all his life. She fell out of the shower sometime after Thursday (when Coal's uncle last spoke to her). The uncle found her body on Saturday. We're waiting for the autopsy report to find out what happened. We just hope she didn't fall and lay there for a long time in pain. She had one of the strongest faiths I've ever witnessed, so I know dying wouldn't have been that scary for her. When she got to talking about heaven, she started making me wish for brake failure on the way home, so I won't have to wait so long!

Also, Coal's first gun-dog Jake died 2 weeks ago. He had been sick and was pretty old. He just laid down and didn't get up again. He was alive Wednesday morning when Coal left for the mud farm and was dead when I got home that afternoon and went to feed the dogs. He looked peaceful. I figure Roxie is next. She loses her balance easily.

Other than that, my job is still going well. So is Coal's. He gets 3 weeks of vacation a year now since he's been there 5 years (his FT job, not the mud farm).

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Since our minister is vegan, members have been creating special items in our pot-luck lunches. Here is a vegan cake that is very good:

Wacky Chocolate Cake (aka Vegan Chocolate Cake)

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
6 Tblsp cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 c. oil
2 Tblsp vinegar
2 c. cold water or coffee (I use decaf coffee)
2 tsp vanilla

Blend, by hand, the flour, cocoa,sugar, baking soda and salt.
Add oil, vinegar, vanilla and coffee.
Blend well. Pour into a greased and floured 9 X 13 inch pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes

Chocolate icing (off of the back of the Hershey Cocoa box with minor variations)

1 stick oleo (sometimes its called margarine spread, just look that it has no dairy or milk in it)
2/3 c. cocoa
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. milk substitute (soy, almond or non dairy creamer all work well)
1 tsp vanilla

Melt oleo. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and 'milk', beating on med. speed to
spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla. I sometimes use the whisk attachment on my mixer if I want it less fudge-like.

Smelliott's Cooking Dinner

Since I needed to go to Chip's anyway to do over 2 month's worth of laundry I decided to help out my nephew with his "cooking day". As I was at my house discussing menus with Smelliott I got a call from Pepper's sister (doesn't have a cat so I don't know what to code her) and I invited her to join us. We cooked pastitcio and watched a documentary that I wholly recommend, " Bigger, Stronger, Faster". It was a very well-made film about steroid use. It really made you rethink about a lot of issues, not just athletes and steroid abuse. It also introduced a lot of facts about steroids I didn't realize mainly that the evidence of long term damage from steroid use is shaky. It also didn't necessarily condone steroid use either. At the end of the DVD you couldn't really say what side of the debate the narrator was on.

Anyway, here is my recipe. The only think that we didn't quite do right was the macaroni; we should have cooked the macaroni to just underdone because it cooked a bit more in the oven. Also, I used 3 different bags of macaroni as they were each sitting opened (hidden) in my cupboard and they might have had different cooking times due to brand and age.

Pastitcio

Cook 2 cups of dried macaroni until almost done. Rinse well to quick cooking.

Meat Sauce

1 tbl oil
1 onion, diced
1 lb burger crumbles, I used 1/2 bag of Morningside crumbles & 2 Morningside Veggie Patties that I smooshed myself after nuking for a minute or 2
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Heat oil in pre-heated cast iron skillet. Saute onion until golden (or until nephew's arms fall off). Add crumbles, cook for a while then add the crumbles, then the paste and tomatoes and last the spices. Reduce heat and simmer (and stir occasionally) while you make the bechamel. Taste again before assembling to adjust spices, may need to add more.

Bechamel Sauce

4 tbl oil
4 tbl flour
4 cups unsweetened soymilk heated in microwave (don't boil)
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Heat oil in large sauce pan. Wisk in flour and cook until floury taste is gone (about as long as it takes to heat the milk) Pour in hot milk while wisking constantly. Heat on medium/high until it bubbles. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until thickened.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 350. Spray Pam large casserole dish. Add the cooked macaroni to the bechamel sauce and stir. Should be soupy, the pasta will soak up a LOT of sauce. Layer macaroni and meat mixture and make sure you end with pasta on the top. (We didn't do it right last night and the meat sauce ended up in a funky layer top crust) Optional: sprinkle top with Parma, bread crumbs or French Fried Onions (last is expensive but if you have some left over from Thanksgiving it doesn't count)

Cook for 45 minutes then let stand for 10. Delicious and just as good the next day for lunch.

Prius Sucks

Glad you are alive, Kipsy.

After spending, as you know, $2500 on my 2001 Prius less than a month ago, it stopped working. Latest diagnosis? Catastrophic failure of the hybrid battery system. Cost for parts alone? $4900.

Kind of amazing, isn't it?

I have decided I don't need a car for the next month. I'll just take buses around town until I go to Texas next month, and I'll fly down there with Roothy (the Cat). Momcat said I could use her car while I am there. Maybe I'll buy a new car while I'm down there, and drive back.

Would anyone like to buy a large, green paperweight?

I am alive!

I'm doing this at school, but it's Saturday so I don't feel so bad. I don't get on the computer at home much (of course, I'm not THERE much!). I still can't write much because I'm here at school to get my materials ready for TAKS testing this next week. Last night was opening night of the play. I had a soccer game this morning in Waco (playing, not reffing)so I figured I'd come by the school and get some work done. I need to get home early enough to shower and get ready for tonight's show.

I'm planning to get an iPhone. That way I can check the blog regularly when I'm out and about. I can't do momcat's phone deal because I can't get cable where I live - we have satelite.

I'll be able to come to Momcat's on the weekends after surgery, but I'm still scheduled to work until we leave for Germany (and I will still owe the school some days).

Anyway, the play ends next week, TAKS testing will be (mostly) over by then, too, so perhaps I'll be home enough to blog (and clean).

More Health News

Now that I have my vertigo under control, I have another health issue to deal with. I had a CT scan a week or so ago and the scan revealed a mass attached to the outside of my uterus. No indication that it is malignant but I need a hysterectomy.

The surgery can be done vaginally but I will not be able to drive for at least two weeks. I am hoping Kipsy can come up and stay with me after school lets out in June. The doctor does surgeries on Wednesdays and ideally I can get an early June date so I will be ready to go to London on the 10th of July. If any of you other than Kipsy could come that would be great and I would pay the airfare - especially if Kipsy can't come in early June.

I will be in the hospital only 2 days and probably only need someone here for a week - I can get rides for the second week as I had to do when I was having vertigo attacks.

If anyone has a week in May that would be good too - give me more time to recover. Let me know so I can make further plans.

Meanwhile, I am getting ready for a visit from Aunt Twiggy and Uncle Farooz. Farooz has never seen the condo so I am running around making sure it looks good. I am having a party for them Sunday night. They leave here to visit Roothy I think.

I got a large tax refund - but as Alan pointed out, that is because I didn't make much money last year. Twiggy and Farooz got the first refund in over 30 years.

I have found a new plus in not buying anything new this year - I can throw away the catalogs I get in the mail without even looking at them!

Easter Eve Dinner at Bonny Doone

I was going to try to do a real recipe like Roothy but I gave up.

This is what I cooked for friends last Saturday. I'm really proud of myself because Pepper and her family were needing some TLC and I was able to put this together while they watched TV. I only messed up on the greens as they needed a lot longer to cook.

Country Fried Boca Burgers

Heat up on large cast iron skillet, once it's heated spray some Pam on it.

Take two pie pans, in the left one put about 1/2 cup of soy milk and add enough prepared mustard to make a thin batter. Into the right pie pan add about a 1/2 cup flour with some salt and pepper. (will probaly need to make a little more of one or the other as you make the burgers.) Oh, and this used 8 patties.

Drag each Boca burger in the batter then the flour mixture and cook about 4 minutes on each side.

Country Gravy

Microwave 2 cups soy milk for one minute

In a medium sauce pan lightly toast 2 TBL of flour with about 1 TBL of curry powder. Add 2 TBL of oil and wisk for about a minute.

Add heated soymilk while wisking constantly.

Cook until bubbling and thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Collard Greens.

Saute 1 small chopped onion in 1 tbl oil until soft.
Add 3 or more chopped garlic cloves and cook for a minute more.

Add 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup nutritional yeast to make a broth. Cook for a little while and then add cut up collard greens. (may need to add in batched to get it all in.

Stir the broth and greens to coat and may need to add more water.

Cover and cook for 45 minutes.

Mashed Potatoes

I'm not going to bother with a drawn out recipe for this as we all know how to make mashed potatoes. I will say that using a rice steamer to cook the potatoes is the way to go as you don't risk over boiling and getting water soaked potatoes.

Soy milk, pepper and that's it.

As an additional gravy choice I made Bryanna Clark Grogan's Brown Gravy that I learned at one of the celebrity chef weekends I did. At the conference she said her friend called it "crack gravy" and I totally agree. I don't wing her recipe, I go strictly by the book so I don't want to plagarize her. It's in her no fat vegan cooking book and it should be in your library anyway.

Steal This Recipe #3--Mujadara

This is a simple Lebanese peasant dish. It is very, very flavorful, and very, very cheap. All but Kipsy would love it, but since Kipsy is no longer seemingly a member of this group (growl), too bad.

2T. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 T. cumin
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice
3 cloves garlic, minced

Sautee these in a medium pan for about 4-5 minutes, then add:

3/4 c. green lentils
28 oz. water

Bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for ten minutes. (Meanwhile, you'll start making the blackened onions--more on that in a minute.) Then, add:

3/4 c. long grain white rice

Bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for fifteen minutes. To prepare the blackened onions:

2 T. olive oil
2 large onions, sliced

Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for at least 20 minutes, until they start to blacken.

When the lentil/rice mixture is done, add a teaspoon or two of salt, then serve on a plate. Top with a generous portion of the blackened onions. Voila! (If you want to use brown rice instead, add at the same time as the lentils, bring to boil, and cook both for a total of 30 minutes).

Cost:
About $1 for the onions, .25 for the rice, and .25 for the lentils, at most. Maybe another .25 for the other ingredients (oil, garlic, spices). This easily makes four very large servings, so about .45 per serving.

Lose weight, save money!!

"At the moment, however, the only safe way of activating brown fat is to stay chilly, right at the verge of shivering, for prolonged periods. That reproduces the conditions that led to the evolution of brown fat — namely, life-threatening cold in babies and small furry animals that can't put on clothes to keep themselves warm."

http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_12102140

So it turns out that refusing to allow anyone to turn on the wall heaters in my house helps me to maintain my girlish figure...I'm a genious!!

Sucker's Rally

The markets have been rallying. One huge reason for this is that under government pressure, the Financial Accounting Services Board just suspended "mark-to-market" accounting rules. Imagine you are running a bank. In a mark-to-market regime, say the bank owns an asset (or a liability)--how do you value it on your books? One obvious way is to look for similar assets, and see what they recently sold for. That's what you and I do when we look at "comps" before we buy or sell our houses.

What an asset is worth matters a lot to banks, because if their assets are too small relative to their liabilities, regulations may kick in and force them to raise money so that they are not undercapitalized. (This is, essentially, the issue of how much "leverage" an institution is allowed to have, which we've talked about before in email.) If they can't do it--say, investors no longer think they are worth pouring money into--then the bank could go under. The details don't matter: all you need to know is that if the bank isn't worth enough on their books, they are in big trouble, and might even have to declare bankruptcy if they can't raise enough cash to compensate for the losses.

One way to make it so that the banks don't have to recapitalize is to simply change the rules about how they value their assets. I mentioned the "mark-to-market" rule, but there are others. There's "mark-to-mark" which means, whatever I bought/sold this very asset/liability for is what I can claim it is worth. (That would be like Momcat, for instance, valuing the house we grew up in at its 1972 price.) No one uses mark-to-mark for pretty obvious reasons.

Another rule would be "mark-to-model," which says you figure out what something is worth by cogitating on it, and making a lot of assumptions, and using your "good" judgment (often with a computer model). Enron pioneered this method, and it is one of the things that got them into so much trouble. Nevertheless, many, many other companies followed their lead, because as idiotic as mark-to-model is, it wasn't illegal. This way of valuing assets effectively says to banks, "Your assets/liabilities are worth whatever you think they are worth!"

The use of mark-to-model is why, right now, we are on the brink of financial ruin: banks assumed that the trash on their books was worth far more than it was, because they assumed real estate only goes up, and people don't, en masse, default on their mortgages and credit cards and cars and student loans, etc. Finally, in 2007, mark-to-model was banned; suddenly, banks had to come clean. You have seen the ruin that followed.

And mark-to-model, friends, is what the government has just decided it should reintroduce. The market has gained massively on the news, because it has just been told that the doors to Fantasyland have been reopened. And when you stick your head in the sand, every day looks like a day at the beach!

Many people have ridiculed "mark-to-model" as "mark-to-myth" or "mark-to-make-believe." And mark-to-my-words: this is a sucker's rally. It cannot sustain. Maybe we squeeze a few more months of life out of the market. Maybe even a couple of years. But all we are doing is delaying the inevitable, and when the crash comes, it will be even worse than if we just admitted how many banks were insolvent, and nationalized those that are NOW.