August 18, 2009
Please reinstate the original "up-tick" rule. "Best bid" could end up being "best guess" with greater opportunities for manipulation. "Circuit breakers" have appeal, but I remember 1987 and computer programming run amok. The simplest restraint is the one that was removed: the "up-tick" rule.
Along with the gutting of Glass/Stegall and the forbidding of proper regulation of derivatives, removing the "up-tick" rule facilitated the selling of toxic loan "pieces" around the world. Granted, the securitization of millions of sub-prime loans and the deliberate decision NOT to regulate certain derivatives (such as the credit default swap)were the main causes of the collapse, but there was no need to create a slide for this debacle by removing other critically important restraints that protected the public.
Clearly written securities regulations are absolutely necessary to protect all parties in market transactions. Removing regulations allows the bullies to take control at the expense of everyone else. By the way,transparency exists when the oridnary person, unlicensed, understands the process of transaction. We don't need more lawyers and economists roiling the waters with excessive regulations and theories. We need common sense. The old "up-tick" rule was the epitome of common sense in action.
I urge you to reinstate the "up-tick" rule.
Nora B. Vincent
Carrollton, TX