May 7, 2008
Legally issued shares of stocks are of finite number.
Each one can be considered valid inventory of a stock.
Inventory can be tracked.
If SEC/DTCC had an inventory tracking system, all valid issued shares could be reconciled AT ALL TIMES. A system can prevent trades that cannot reconcile.
Shorting could be the subject of legal trades to the heart's content of those who subscribe to this mentality. LEGAL is the key word though.
It should be illegal to lend or sell a borrowed share until it has been delivered. Period. End of story.
If fails to deliver were just "part of trading" as DTCC, SEC would have us believe, then there should be a random distribution of FTDs. There aren't. Everyone knows how it works. SEC knows. DTCC knows. All the MM's know.
What you're doing now just isn't RIGHT. You know it. We know it.
It's not that hard to figure out. Hopefully someone will let go of your you-know-whats so you can finally just DO what is right.