Even assets? The whole notion of "toxic financial waste" -- talk about fetishization -- seems to this non-economist to be the oddest thing about this whole fiasco, because how does the waste become toxic in the first place, if the market is functioning? Calculated Risk:

One of the reasons the credit crisis has lingered (in addition to house prices still being too high) is that a number of financial institutions have been unwilling to adequately mark down their assets. The reason for this reluctance is obvious as Lehman just discovered; too many write downs can lead to bankruptcy.

Well, what kind of market is it where institutions won't "adequately mark down their assets?"

I'd call it a failed market -- the market for homes seems to be a good deal more successful, as little people pay with their lives for the disasters the rich fucks created -- and if I'm right, the Republican philosophy of government created the largest market failure in world history.

Except for a lucky one or two percent. For them, success!