They say that, you know, writing down the value of assets right now just adds to volatility.

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There is no procedure for writing down the value of such loans, no matter how questionable their worth.

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But Oppenheim feels both have proven themselves the most realistic in writing down the value of their landholdings.

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Legally, the government would need to declare a bank holiday while Parliament passed new laws writing down the value of uninsured deposits.

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The idea of writing down the value of financial assets when the market for them is seriously impaired or doesn't exist is sheer folly.

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So far, the pain has been limited to homeowners, home builders and banks like Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, which have been writing down the value of their mortgage-bond portfolios.

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For instance, the recent guideline on fair-value accounting, which decrees that companies must show equity holdings at their market value, also contains a provision that allows them to avoid writing down shares if they think that they will soon recover in value.

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