March 2, 2009
To Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Vice Chair: US Congress Joint Economic Committee; and Division of Trading and Markets: Securities and Exchange Commission,
It is amazing to me (a financial service industry veteran) and the investing public, that our elected and appointed government officials have done NOTHING to fix and enforce the malfunctioning in the financial markets. What you do not seem to realize is that today's economic problems can be reversed or the worse case, slowed down, if you just do the following:
A) Have the SEC restore the Uptick Rule immediately and state that enforcement will be extremely vigilant for those violating the rule and for those not legally borrowing securities prior to a legal short sale. The legal plus "illegal" short interest dwarfs the shares outstanding in many issues (mainly the financials). That dynamic and the lack of enforcement has led us to where we are today and makes it impossible for a buyer of any securities to have any confidence to stay invested in the markets.
B) Announce that the administration is looking at revamping the mark to market accounting rules. This rule is the fuel that is adding to the fire. Selling begets selling. This creates capital problems for our financial institutions that are regulated by mark to market accounting rules.
You do work for us, the voting citizens and investors. I and many others believe that if your act on the recommendations I refer to above-this vicious downward spiral will end and the Government can become proactive instead of reactive to the situation.
If you would like to discuss further, please do not hesitate to call me.
Sincerely,
David Goldfader