February 17, 2009
Good Morning:
At the risk of seeming like an idiot, after today's performance in the market, I felt I had to reach out. Here are a few possibilities that cannot hurt, and may possible help stabilize the market insane gyrations.
1. Reinstate the up tick rule.
2. Aggressively punish clients, brokers and firms that allow or engage in naked short selling.
3. Work with the Treasury to amend capital gains rate. Make it a greater incentive to buy and hold an investment for a longer duration..
There is no incentive to invest in a company. The game is now to play for periods of minutes or days, not months or years. The exchanges are no longer a place to invest, they have devolved into mere casinos. These changes would allow American firms to free themselves from the unbearable pressures of quarterly returns being the end all be all. Strategic planning is all but impossible with the table stacked as it is now.
I do not expect any of these to be effected. Yet now we have a window for change, please use it.
Respectfully;
Keith Buckler