May 1, 2007
American financial markets have a few key under-pinnings. Among them are 1. Legal and Ethical Behavior 2. Fair and equitable compliance
Naked shorting bastardizes these and other fundamental necessities of our financial markets. Creating fictitious positions (often in coordinated effort) for the benefit of a few to have the same effect as "cornering a market" should not even be up for discussion.
Many global markets require verifiable custody of securities before allowing short sales to occur. This is a necessary step in our American markets. Additionally, as long as the fees and commissions generated through additional trading transactions are greater than the spectre of loss, institutional brokers and retail brokerages will not act as a "stand-in" to the SEC for enforcement.
It is long overdue to assess a per share, daily fine, on un-delivered positions.
No amount of illegal activity should be grand-fathered as "acceptable".
It is time for the SEC to do what it neglected to do for so long. It is time to take control of the markets and restore fairness and ethical behavior in the trading of stocks.