May 31, 2009
Please bring back the uptick rule - honest people like me, who invest for the long term have been hurt by this. It drove Lehman out of business and almost brought down the system. At the very least, please ban short selling of financial stocks because they create a panic and a run on the bank - it destroys wealth.
We build expensive homes for people with substantial net worths. Now they have all been killed in the market - all of my subcontractors - on average they have laid off 50-70% of their workers. I am sure it will be 5-10 years to recover from this.
When these people lose their wealth because of short sellers who never even borrowed valid shares, we all lose. The biggest companies in town had 1000 workers, now they are down to 200. This is an average - business is totally destroyed and these high end homes- they are down 50% and the vacant lots are down 60-70%. As the stock market goes, so goes the housing market, so go jobs............