The Byproducts of the War on Iran
Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz affects not just oil and fertilizer, but also the many oil- and gas-based inputs essential to everyday goods.
"Mark to market" is one of those confusing terms that's been thrown around discussions of the finance meltdown. It's basically an accounting rule that means that a company has to put value certain assets on its balance sheet (in other words, to "mark") at what the market says their worth.
Steven Pearlstein at the Washington Post has a nice description of the term, why getting rid of it has become an obsession of the anti-regulation crowd, and a sensible proposal: