May 4, 2009
Having been a long term investor in the stock market, my confidence in
market control mechanisms and a "level playing field" have been
severely tested in the past 20 months. It has become obvious to me
that the market is rigged and manupilated by well-financed major
players (traders) who have no interest in the "little people" who have
their life savings in this market. These deep pocket major
speculators/traders have been helped tremendously by the abolition of
the up tick rule, naked short selling and the double and triple short
ETFs that allow them to manipulate the markets on a daily basis and
make money at the expense of the long term small investor. My trust in
the system has been broken and only the reinstatement of the earlier
uptick rule, the aggressive policing of naked short selling and the
withdrawal of double and triple short ETF's can start to restore some
confidence that the market is not rigged and a place were suckers get
separated from their money by the big money guys including hedgefunds
and investment bankers.
I will be looking forward with great interest to your decisions. These
decisions will have a major impact on the soundness of the equity
markets and on what is left of the confidence the small investor might
still have in capitalism itself.
Gerhard Westra