April 17, 2009
Dear Ms. Schapiro,
Through the first week of collecting comments on the proposed short sale rules, there are generally 2 categories of comments:
1. Individual investors, ranting irrationally, not knowing the history of the SEC's pilot test or rule-making process, not coherently tying any empirical evidence to market conditions, and generally not taking care to use proper spelling or grammar (though making rampant use of the Caps Lock key). Every one of these irrational, misspelled rants has come from individuals who want some kind of uptick rule back, and who curiously take pleasure in personally attacking you and the other commissioners.
2. Industry professionals, calmly documenting the fact that all studies by the SEC and outside academics unanimously disprove any correlation between price volatility and the presence or absence of an uptick rule.
Shouldn't the fact that all of the cheap-shot idiots are in FAVOR of re-instating the uptick rule be worth something here?
Let's see . . . a bunch of idiots think this is a good idea, and also think it's a good idea to personally attack the very person they're trying to convince.
But a bunch of educated professionals think it's a bad idea.
What to do, what to do?
Joe