There is a reason why there has never been a comic book superhero based on an accountant. The notion that the accountants and their officials, waving rules such as FAS 157, would be the ones in charge of the world was always a questionable one.

I think we are beginning to see how the new securities valuation rules will be worked out in practice - and while problems will be created for many people, in the end the classic solution will be applied. Past mistakes will be fixed quietly and gradually, some of the less popular guilty will be punished as an example, and the rest will be given time to make their situation look better. We will have a years-long, painful adjustment process, but the world will not end because an accountant says it should.