Subject: File No. S7-08-09
From: Robert F Cusimano
Affiliation: private investor

May 5, 2009

Please re-instate the uptick rule and other rules that limit the potential for "bear raids."

From late 2007 to the present, negative rumors seem to have been determining stock prices more than earnings, sales, or other traditional value metrics. It may be a coincidence, but the repeal of the uptick rule in 2007 seems to have been closely associated with the downturn in the stock markets and the increase in negative rumors. It may also be a coincidence that short sellers dominated the market and naked short sellers drove some companies out of business, but our economic problems that may have been real in 2007 could have been exacerbated by the new short selling rules passed in 2007.