March 22, 2009
Since the time of my first comment, I have seen news reports indicating that Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers were impacted by heavy naked short selling. It has also been reported that the SEC has not taken a single enforcement action related to naked short selling.
The restriction on naked short selling was supposed to serve in the absence of the uptick rule. If these reports are true, this approach has failed with disastrous economic consequences.
If the SEC refuses to reinstate the uptick rule, and perhaps even if it does not, the public is going to see the failure to take enforcement action against naked short selling as a failure that dwarfs the Madoff fiasco in its consequences.
Stephen Cywin