July 17, 2008
"U.S. securities regulators issued an emergency rule on Tuesday to limit certain types of short selling in major financial firms, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...The rule is the latest effort by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to clamp down on market manipulation that some blame for the sharp declines in financial stocks and the demise of investment bank Bear Stearns in March...'As a result, the prices of securities may artificially and unnecessarily decline well below the price level that would have resulted from the normal price discovery process,' the SEC said."
Well, so now the SEC is concerned about "naked shorting" when it relates to specifically named big companies, several who by the way are responsible for the naked shorting issue world wide. How about focusing on the rampant "naked shorting" that has occurred over the past 10-15 years and ruined thousand of smaller companies and resulted in hundreds of billions in monetary losses to both the affected companies and their respective shareholders. Were not the smaller companies also entitled to a security price to be maintained at a level resulting "from the normal price discovery process" instead of being viciously naked shorted into oblivion? Evidently not.
Small business is the backbone of the American economy and deserves significantly more attention and protection than it has received from the SEC in the last decade. Small business deserves at least the same level of support and protection that is received by "selected big business". Anything less is a travesty of American justice.
Eliminate all naked shorting exemptions.