April 17, 2009
The SEC needs to decide whether where the stock market belongs. Right now it belongs in Las Vegas. It is a casino. Investing has become syonymous with gambling. There is no difference. Investing should mean that you are buying shares in a company to help them succeed - and then reaping the reward from their success. Investing should not mean creatively buying or selling articificial tokens that are being artificially manipulated up or down by a community far removed from the companies that those tokens are meant to represent. Short selling is just another means of gambling. I can see no honorable reason for short selling whatsoever. Don't restore the uptick rule - abolish short selling altogether. I would go further even. Investing in a company should be just that - if you buy shares, then you should be required to hold them for a reasonable amount of time or pay a significant penalty. Ultra short term gains should be taxed out of existance - its not investing it is gambling.
Please restore the stock market to the people and take it away from the greedy sharks that today control it.