April 13, 2009
Hi, I would like to propose a third alternative to your proposed restrictions on short selling. How about just making short selling ILLEGAL? Short selling is a despicable practice that causes severe damage to both individual investors and public companies. It serves no useful purpose, it just enriches the wealthy and powerful scumbags who do it. I'm just an average guy who makes $30,000 a year and I got KILLED in the stock market last year, losing the equivalent of one year's wages. That is after having devoted hundreds of hours to the study and research of stock investing. I understand that I am mostly at fault for my mistakes, and that the bad economy was also a major factor, but I also believe that rampant short selling is a big reason why I and so many other investors have suffered such great losses. I realize that a complete ban on short selling is unlikely, so therefore my opinion is that the SEC should reinstate the uptick rule on a marketwide, permanent basis. Thanks.
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Tom