Author: "_carolina" <_carolina@msn.com> at Internet Date: 01/31/2000 9:06 AM Subject: subject:File No. S7-24-99 comments Dear Sirs, It is of critical importance to the maintenance of fair markets that you level the playing field for the investing public with regard to short selling. It is time to enforce one set of short-selling rules which will apply to both market makers and the investing public. I urge you to remove the unfair and discriminatory regulations that restrict the public's ability to short-sell stocks, while providing preferential treatment only for the market makers and industry insiders. Unfortunately, most novice investors do not understand or appreciate the critical check-and-balance afforded by the action of short selling in the exercise of free markets. Since the industry makes no effort whatsoever to educate the public with regard to short selling, the public is left to draw the erroneous conclusion that it is short sellers who should be blamed when a stock goes down in price. Regrettably, this lack of understanding applies most directly to the new generation of "do-it-yourself" investors spawned by the proliferation of access to information and gossip enabled by the internet. Many treat the internet as a tool to generate "momentum" for stocks as though it is a football game. Rapid runups are easily fabricated for reasons having nothing whatever to do with the value of the underlying security. However, professional investment firms and marketmakers have rigged the game so they can play by a different set of rules than the general public. They have done this for no other reason than to line their own pockets, under the sham of maintaining "fairness" in the market. Every day, market pros short sell IPO's, short sell on downticks, and short sell without regard to the availability of certificates. They do it quietly, without regulation, and without a requirement for disclosure; often in direct contradiction to the public "recommendations" of analysts from the very same firms. The public will be best served by administering the markets so that every investor wishing to place their own money in an "at-risk" trade be allowed to do so under the same rules. I urge you to eliminate current restrictions on short selling, and allow the public to sell short by the same rules as market makers. Thank you for receiving input on this critical issue