Subject: File No. S7-08-09
From: Richard W Honerkamp
Affiliation: Private investor - Retired

May 5, 2009

Please vote to re-instate the full uptick rule.

In the two years since this rule was abandoned, the markets have suffered dramatically when hedge funds have been allowed to raid good companies and cut them off from the capital markets by driving their stock prices to near zero.

I owned a significant position (for me) in Lehman Brothers and am convinced the hedge funds caused a liquidity crisis resulting in Lehman's demise, likely not occuring if the uptick rule had been in force.

I, and many other small investors no longer have confidence in the equity markets. They are stacked against us. The elimination of the uptick rule two years ago is the most visible evidence of this.

Please do the right thing and undo some of the damage that has been done to the U S equity markets.