June 1, 2009
I am an individual trader/investor. I urge you to enforce rules against naked short selling. There should be no such thing as a list of stocks with delivery problems. Shares are units of ownership in a business. When non-existent shares are sold, it creates problems with dividend payments and voting rights which are both tied only to legitimate shares. Who are the brokers that are allowing this? My brokers sure don't. The people who are selling short naked are getting an unfair advantage over me. In addition, when I receive a substitute payment instead of a dividend, it is taxed at a disadvantage to a dividend. If the substitute payment came from a naked short situation, the naked shorter is costing me actual money out of my pocket.