Banks Sway Gov't to Change Rules

Here’s one reason why financial companies appear to have been performing better as of late: “Not long after the bottom fell out of the market for mortgage securities last fall, a group of financial firms took aim at an accounting rule that forced them to report billions of dollars of losses on those assets,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “Marshalling a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign, these firms persuaded key members of Congress to pressure the accounting industry to change the rule in April. The payoff is likely to be fatter bottom lines in the second quarter.” 31 financial firms spent $27.6 million in the first quarter of 2009 lobbying against the rule and other issues. That includes $18,500 to Paul Kanjorksi, the chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee who pushed for the changes.