December 15, 2021
The fact that requiring transparency in Security-Based Swaps to protect market participants from illegal activities is a contested idea requiring public comments is outrageous.
It's common knowledge that in order for free markets to operate optimally and achieve the best results for society, the more knowledge available the better. Private firms and members of the public deserve transparency regarding the financial instruments they trade for the market. Deliberate fraud and deception in any sizeable market is both inevitable and illegal, and this proposal will help individuals protect themselves against it and law enforcement discover it before it gets out of control.
I am extremely disturbed with Hester Perice's and Elad Roisman's stances on this proposal. It's natural that if there is limited transparency in a financial instrument, it is virtually impossible to detect illegal behavior until there are catastrophic consequences too large to be missed. The rationality behind \"we don't look for crime, so we don't see any crime, therefore crime doesn't exist, therefore we don't need to look for crime,\" is both a tautology and making potentially fatal assumptions. I am concerned that these two individuals are not capable of the level of reasonable thought and common sense that is expected of their roles as commissioners. Either that or they stand to personally benefit by objecting to this legislation.
I have read comments from when this proposal was first put forward years ago suggesting that this proposal exceeds the SEC's authority under the Dodd-Frank Act. I am no lawyer, so I will not comment on whether or not this is valid. But if so, then the relevant clauses or absence thereof in the Act are unjust, artificially restricting the SEC's ability to ensure transparent and thus fair and free markets with no apparent benefits beyond ideological tenets. If so, the SEC along with everyone that supports this proposal should protest the relevant clauses or absence thereof and negotiate with congress until the Act is amended and this proposal passed.