April 21, 2009
Dear Commissioners
I am a retail investor who like the majority of the population has seen his retirement investment decimated by the recent bear market. I believe that the decrease in short selling regulation with the removal of the uptick rule and the lack of enforcement of regulations with respect to naked shorting has significantly contributed to the fear and panic that has racked the market. With specific respect to financial stocks it has contributed to the situation whereby the government has needed to spend hundreds of billions of dollars shoring up the financial system.
I urge you to 1) rigorously enforce the ban on naked shorting with investigations of past activity and trials of those including the brokers who participated in this and 2) the reinstatement of a permanent strong uptick rule , not a circuit breaker rule or a best price rule but a real up tick in the price before shorting can occur. I also urge you to outlaw double or triple long and short etf's which are simply a way around the margin requirements and also exacerbate market volatility. Our society is dependent at this point on a fair regulated and enforced market for the wealth and retirement of the general population. The whims and desires of hedge funds who would manipulate the market can not be allowed to be placed ahead of the common good.