May 5, 2009
1) The ability to short stocks without actually first putting up the money to buy them should be permanently banned if you want any trust in the Markets at all. Period.
2) Short ETF's should be dissolved and also banned. If individuals desire to short stocks that is one thing. The short ETF's such as SKF and many more, do not generate income to their holders based on the stocks price movements downward as advertised. They should be banned period.
3) the uptick rule must be replaced as well. A stock must go up before it can be shorted.
4) SEC must regulate Hedge funds and ALL investment vehicles and provide investors with the tools to educate themselves on how the various methods of purchasing stocks work.
Part of the foundation of our nation lies in the ability of the people to demand their institutions be transparent. The SEC is a black box today to the average person. The machinations of the market remain in the same black box. Honesty is missing from our leaders of the past 8 years. SEC is just one of many places where honesty and integrity need to be restored in practice. Lip service only no longer works today. I urge the SEC to take real measures to protect the small investor and control the activities of large investment firms and hedge funds. Prevent them from tearing down a stock and ultimately the companies of those stocks, just for the sake of profit. The jobs lost due to the recent shorting of stocks will take a few years to recover.