April 9, 2007
To the SEC,
This entire opening back up for comments issue is pathetic. This is just another SEC stall tactic. The last time you had an open comment session on this issue the ordinary investors opposed to the grandfather clause and allowing FTD's to exist for months if not years gave you piles of data to proove their point. The ones against only made comments and suggestions like reduced liquidity and such.
I guess you have missed the facts that some stocks have been on the Reg SHO list for years and other companies have 4 times their float sold short.
Then you said that the data shows that the FTD's are only about 1% of all trades on a given day. But you also said that eliminating them would cause a severe liquidity problem. Which is it? I think Leslie Boni showed you that your data is faulty if not fraudulent.
For those reading this that do not know what this liquidity issue is watch the video Darkside of the Looking Glass by Patrick Byrne from Overstock.com. What the SEC is saying is that it may cause stocks to go up. Or in other words by eliminating the FTD's the stocks may trade where they should have been trading all along.
The grandfather clause should be eliminated and all FTD's should be cleared. Those responsible should be fined and prosecuted. But by the fact that even under the Freedom of Information Act citizens can not get information regarding these issues of the FTD's from either the SEC or the DTCC. And what data has been disclosed by the SEC does not account for all of the FTD's outside of the DTCC. These are ex clearing trades done between brokers.
Now why are you still stalling. You have had the authority to stop this practice since 1934. And yet now you are still talking about it. I think that the top levels of the SEC is so corrupt and manipulated by the Brokers and the Hedge Funds that you are unwilling to do your job.
If the SEC does not do something to stop this I believe that it will be stopped by companies electing to change their listing to another exchange where this practice is not allowed. When that happens what will become of the SEC, and DTCC. Maybe the SEC should do something just out of self preservation.
Regards,
Bob Pietrzak