June 18, 2011
Short selling needs to be fixed. It is destroying the confidence of the average American retail investor.
The abuse of short selling has run rampant.
The corruption of large institutions by dark trading, insider information and unregulated short selling is an absolute disgrace. It is sickening to think that our government apparently does not possess the intelligence to punish the financial institutions that are undermining the very foundation of what makes this country great.
Overweight financial institutions should not be allowed to short any financial instrument and then (most importantly) fail to deliver shares.
Current guide lines regarding share delivery are a fraud. Our government is essentially allowing market makers and heavily leveraged institutions to trade counterfeit shares because the SEC does not appropriately criminally investigate and prosecute short sellers and financial institutions who fail to deliver shares in a timely manner.
This occurs because the regulations are written by institutions whose best interest is based upon undermining the retail investor. While many may feel that this is a laughing matter, particularly the person who is reading this RIGHT NOW with a cynical perspective, the very foundation of the system is based upon the concept of contract delivery.
Failing to deliver needs to be both policed and much more importantly, enforced.
Penalties need to be extreme in order to deliver the message that market manipulation will not be tolerated.
Investor confidence is at an all time low. Prices of stocks are easily manipulated by market makers,hedge funds and financial institutions who have the ability to apply undue influence through lobbying which the average investor cannot access. In 'short' the market has become untenable under the current regulatory scheme.