Here's something you might be interested in.
It is simply hilarious that Wall Street genuflects at the altar of free enterprise, free markets, rugged individualism, etc. The nabobs believe in free enterprise as long as they are making money, but when they start losing, they want a handout or protection from the government they proclaim should not interfere in the private sector. Today (July 15), Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, testified to Congress that he would like to limit so-called naked short selling of stocks in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and brokerages such as Merrill Lynch. Someone who sells short borrows shares, sells them, and expects to replace the borrowed shares at a lower price after the stock price goes down. In a naked short sale, the trader shorts the stock without borrowing any shares. Now, naked short selling is already against the rules, as it should be. But regulators haven't cracked down -- until today, when they will start cracking down, but only on naked short selling of stocks in Fannie, Freddie, and brokerage houses, which are under siege because of incredibly stupid gambling with borrowed money over the years. The market was down very sharply when Cox made the proposal, and it immediately turned around. At 11:35 West Coast time it was up moderately.
It is simply hilarious that Wall Street genuflects at the altar of free enterprise, free markets, rugged individualism, etc. The nabobs believe in free enterprise as long as they are making money, but when they start losing, they want a handout or protection from the government they proclaim should not interfere in the private sector. Today (July 15), Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, testified to Congress that he would like to limit so-called naked short selling of stocks in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and brokerages such as Merrill Lynch. Someone who sells short borrows shares, sells them, and expects to replace the borrowed shares at a lower price after the stock price goes down. In a naked short sale, the trader shorts the stock without borrowing any shares. Now, naked short selling is already against the rules, as it should be. But regulators haven't cracked down -- until today, when they will start cracking down, but only on naked short selling of stocks in Fannie, Freddie, and brokerage houses, which are under siege because of incredibly stupid gambling with borrowed money over the years. The market was down very sharply when Cox made the proposal, and it immediately turned around. At 11:35 West Coast time it was up moderately.