April 9, 2021
I am an individual retail investor and would like to express my opinion regarding SR-NSCC-2021-801.
I will be prefacing this opinion with some background information. Many Americans remember what it was like during the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The average American watched as Wall Street got bailed out by the government. Wall Street took on massive amounts of bad debt and collateral which was then \"handed off\" to the American people. After they got bailed out, they turned around and paid their executives massive bonus with taxpayer money. While it was understandable that the U.S. government did what it had to in order to save the economy, the situation should have never gotten to that point in the first place.
With this new rule (SR-NSCC-2021-801), Wall Street should theoretically be unable to be replicate what happened during that financial crisis. The rule would require members to have enough company to cover their leveraged positions. It would also allow the DTCC to liquidate assets and close positions in order to stop those leveraged positions from spinning out of control.
This rule could be absolutely game changing since it could limit the ridiculous behavior of those on Wall Street while also restoring some faith in the American economy. The average American would be able to have some confidence in knowing that Wall Street would not be able to screw them over as badly as before. I personally hope this rule is passed and enforced as soon as possible in order to avoid another situation similar to the financial crisis of 2007-2008.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.