Easing of Mark-to-Market

So I saw the DJIA this morning and saw a sharp upward spike just peeking over 8000. Since it reached the mid-6000's, its has been rising steadily over the last month. But this shift seemed abrupt so, curious, I went to Google news and the only financial news that pertained was an easing of mark-to-market accounting regarding the toxic assets held by banks.

No doubt this relates to the so-called "public-private" program to bid for the toxic assets of banks, which will be almost fully government-subsidized non-recourse (for the taxpayer) purchases in a highly manipulated bidding system where only a few insiders would be allowed to participate. As it is shaping up it will amount to handing $500B of taxpayer money to banks in a sneaky way. More commentary to follow when it springs in to action.

The Market is a strange beast, but pretending there is money in the system where there isn't doesn't make it so. Though, maybe the market is salivating over the taxpayer money it sees headed its way.