Selling on the lows

I used to be a trader many years ago, so I can't resist commenting on the story today from the CBC:

The federal government is considering the sale of some of Crown assets as a way of balancing its budget and avoiding a deficit, Canada's finance minister said Thursday.

I thought Mr. Flaherty was smarter than that! World asset prices have just collapsed and now he wants to sell?!?!

I further suspect that selling assets to avoid a budget deficit is only a bookkeeping trick to take advantage of certain assets being valued on the books at very old, below-market values. Perhaps he wants to hide behind the economic crisis while he pursues his real agenda of downsizing the federal government. Or, perhaps we had better quickly set up the "sweetheart deal" detector.

Minister Flaherty, let's compromise. How about if you get some expert disinterested parties to independently value the federal government assets whose book value seems way too low. Then you mark to market, and presto, you get to avoid a deficit without having to sell for real into the worst market in decades.