Why the banks won't price their toxic assets

Way back in the twentieth century, the stellar Hartford Courant columnist Tom Condon, in his many and legendary battles with the Connecticut Department of Transportation's aggressive tree-trimming program, used to ask: "I know I've said it before, but what is it that the Department of Transportation has against trees?"

Well, at least as it relates to the market and toxic assets, apoplexy loves company. And the crazy question I want to ask again and again is: Why is it that the banks, and the financial community more-broadly, can't price toxic assets? Isn't the market great at price discovery? Well, start discovering prices, then.