May 4, 2009
Please reinstate the uptick rule to stop abusive shorts from manipulating stock prices downward. Quickly after this rule was dropped the market manipulation created our recent stock market and economic crash. The uptick rule had been in place for 70 years and needs to be put back in to prevent situtations like Lehman, Bear Stears, etc. The SEC's reveiws of the uptick rule in a Bull market before it dropped the rule was not meaningful the reveiw should have been done during a severe Bear Market instead. If the SEC needs a review they should review such in a Major Bear market like we experienced in August 2008 through March 9, 2009.
Also naked shorts should be prevented by the SEC. The SEC should enforce the rule by going after major shorters that haven't covered the shorts with borrowed shares - people need to be charged for these abusive practices.
The lack of regulation, common place fraudulant public company financial statements, fraudulant schemes(like Madoff), and market manipulation for profit are totally destroying the credability of the stock market for individual investors and others. Eventually these abusive practices will make it imposible for companies to raise capital in markets that are generally considered to be rigged. After all our economy and country is based on capitalism isn't it?
Unfortunately, we look more like a third world emerging market country than the sophisticated economic country we should be and once were.
Thank you.