October 5, 2011
I appreciate your intentions to protect everyone from the evils that lurk behind the shadowy veil of leveraged mortgage REITs.
However I find it disconcerting that in the middle of a second market meltdown -promulgated by those whom you have been unable or unwilling to successfully regulate heretofore- you find it timely and appropriate to inject yet more uncertainty, doubt, fear, and disruption into the markets.
The REIT segment has been a relatively stable, lower-volatility segment within which small investors such as myself can expect to earn some meaningful return without extraordinary risks to our retirement and college funds. Now, because of the well-intentioned desire to protect us from ourselves, you have caused significant disruption and loss of capital throughout the entire segment. I wake up now to see my capital base eroded by 6% for the WEEK, much more for the month, flashcrashes erasing a years' worth of dividends in seconds, and a new opportunity for the vultures and jackals to come pick at my flesh, already scarred, bruised, and bloody because of misbehavior of the mega-trillion-dollar shadow derivatives market you can't or won't do anything about.
Seems maybe it's even orchestrated, if one is susceptible to conspiracy theories. Perhaps some of the revolving door guys that orbit between Goldman and the SEC will know what's coming down before you make your next moves, like the ratings downgrade? Maybe the high-rollers think that it's just too easy here on easy street, and that we dividend hogs are raking in unjust spoils of some nefarious exploitation of market weakness. I can't really imagine what is going on behind the closed doors at the Big Oak Tables, but I have a feeling it's really not to protect me from market abuse.
As daily Greek myths jack around the portfolios that we are depending on for kids' college funding and retirement existence by 3% per day, or per HOUR, and as Goldman and the rest are off selling cargo containers worth of CDO's they can't cover, bringing us to this latest version of The Permanent Catastrophe, what I think would really help is if you took on some of the root causes of this disaster market. Did you figure out the flash-crashes yet? Is HFT really a good idea? Is that subjecting us to more harm than REIT leverage? Uptick rules maybe a good idea? Who are the financial terrorist bear raiders, and can you do anything about THEM? Ask yourself. Don't bite off more than you can chew, and sort by priority.
I will be sending this to my Congresspeople too, maybe they will have some thoughts - if you care.
Thank you,
Respectfully,
A small investor with ALL liquid assets in the market so maybe he can earn enough return so his kids can go to college.