June 17, 2009
One of the reasons that the financial markets have been vulnerable is the opportunistic reaction to relaxed regulation by unscrupulous short-term traders. A return to the previous market-wide uptick rule ("Proposed Uptick Rule") would be in the best interest of helping the ongoing efforts to restore the orderliness of the equity markets. the market-wide uptick rule helps circumvent the type of manulative and destructive short-selling we have seen. This should be only one of several broad-reaching changes to regulations that needs to be (re)initiated to protect true investors and protect the underlying companies who rely on the financial markets for their capital structure. even so it will take some time for the general public's confidence in the financial system to be restored. While regulation is not the answer to all the world's ills, when reduced regulatory restrictions results in manipulative activity by short-term market traders whose sole concern is short-term profits at a cost to others, the financial strength of our markets and overall financial system suffers. This is the very reason that meaningful and enforceable regulations must be in place.