November 28, 2007
-Get rid of the OMM exception
-Force broker dealers to adapt the Long Sale Proposal
-Impose stiff monetary penalties to those that refuse to buyin and clean up their failed shares
-Publish daily fails statistics
-Let us know what the monetary amount of all fails is worth in dollar amount
-We know that there are 6Billion fails a day- but what are those 6B shares worth? At 10 dollars a share that would be 600Billion dollars that fails on a daily basis
Here is what Mr. Patrick Byrne has given me this holiday season.
Why do I support the man and his cause? Why do I feel indebted to him?
1- Byrne has given me quite an education. He has opened my eyes to what seems to be corruption lies collusion and deceit on a massive scale. Light and transparency into a convoluted archaic prejudiced investment system is Byrnes gift to all.
2- At almost every major news corner and in almost every major media outlet there was someone who had the will, and they always tried to find a way to criticize and disparage the man. They tried to sully his reputation in any way possible even if it wasnt possible to accomplish. For a long time he was the only spokesperson for all of us (the little people). I am sure Bynre said things and did things that other Ceos wish they could do- and say- but would not dare do- for fear of an well oiled well orchestrated onslaught- that would be nothing less than biblical in scale.
3- for standing alone I admire the man. For taking everything that they threw at him and refusing to give up I admire the man.
Those of you who repeatedly tell us the system isnt broken need to find a new tune. A simple 2 minute explanation of the settlement system and the massive lack of transparency would convince almost any jury that something has gone horribly wrong.
For years to me it seemed the only way to combat the growing perception that something went wrong- and is wrong was to personally attack, smear, and discredit the messenger (PB) and completely ignore all facts that cant be easily explained.
I know what talking points are- but now we have ours as well.
1- why are there billions of fails?
2- why does it seem that the fails only occur in certain stocks that Rocker or SAC own- over and over again?
3- to my eyes it seems there are strategic failures not random- but focused
4-Strategic failures= someone- somewhere has a strategy to fail- sounds like illegal manipulation to me
5- why do we need FOIA requests to get data?
6- what are those billions of fails worth in monetary value?
7- why cant the sec force someone to remove ostk or nfi from reg sho after t+infinity?
8- why does the sec fine miscreants who steal millions pennies?
9- the sec lets everyone off the hook without denying or admitting guilt-why?
10- the sec does not like the word disgorgement Steal 25m the sec will fine you 50k.
11- why do so many sec officials quit only to find work in the industry they were supposed to be policing?
12-why did the sec lie and tell us all that fails were decreasing when they were not?
Lets take a look at your talking points:
1- pump and dump bad
2- We need short American heroes to save us all from the bad PD people
3-your stock deserved to go down- deal with it
4-Fails ONLY represent 1% of all trades so its not a big deal.
5- Byrne is a crazy bad man
My rebuttal to your lame talking points:
Fails may represent a small amount of the entire settlement system, BUT it doesnt matter if they are strategic and focused in a few companies. If 9000 stocks settle fine but 100 companies dont, and those 100 companies account for most of the failures in the entire system we have a serious problem.
Pump and dumps are bad- but so are short and distorts. People are scamming on both sides of the aisle. Isnt it about time someone shed some light on the SD scams that are out there? Isnt it easier to destroy than to build? Easier to bring down rather than to bring up?
Byrne sees something that is undeniably broken and he is trying to fix it. I dont idolize the man but I do respect him and I do wish to thank him.
Plus I actually like shopping at OSTK. I usually get my family Xmas gifts there for pretty reasonable prices.