Subject: File No. S7-08-09
From: Robert L. Bender
Affiliation: Investment Advisor

June 15, 2009

I have been an investment advisor since 1972.

The major purpose of the stock market is to raise capital for industry.

Currently the stock market is a casino.

If it continues companies will refuse to go public and stay private. They will get tired of watching the price of their stocks come public at $15, rise to $25 and then decline to $2 when little changed in their fundamentals.

The continuation of these results will cause them to not go public. In such an environment they would not be able to grow as quickly and hire as many new employees.
That would cause the economy to grow at a slower rate if at all as small companies result in most of the new employees.
Technology and biotechnology would be slower in advancing
and may even suffer declining growth rates.

I hope you can do your part in ending the stock market as a casino.

Robert L. Bender
President of Robert Bender Associates
245 South Los Robles Ave
Suite 625
Pasadena, CA 91101