May 10, 2009
My view is that practices that distort the market should be banned, and the bans enforced. In particular naked short selling, and double and triple short (and long) ETF's should all be banned. Naked shortly is especially abhorrent - instantly creating stock, diluting existing holders, without any of the regulatory compliance and disclosure controls applied to issuers.
It is also imperative that enforcement be rigorous with severe penalties, like banishment from the industry for willful violators.
I do not think either proposed version of an uptick rule is appropriate. The proposed rules would introduce distortion in the market that would interfere with price discovery and create some imbalance by removing risk from the long position.