Stop Blaming the Shorts! SEC's Ban Hurts Market and Didn't Help WaMu, Wachovia

The people who are in favor of this bailout must have invested billions of their own money in the DERIVATIVES and are trying to recupe their bad investments buy selling these bad loans to the American people. 37 Trillion dollars plus is the number, if 700 billion dollars was the magic number for the BAILOUT, why when they pored 630 billion dollars ON Tuesday into the financials it no effect, and it just evaporated in thin air. Now they are trying to explain to us why we are too stupid to understand the situation!!!!They are the ones who created the situation, their greed has created the situation and now they want us( the stupid people) to BAILOUT the same people who got us all into this mess. NO BAILOUT, NO BAILOUT, VOTE THEM OUT, VOTE THEM OUT, NO BAILOUT, and NO PEANUTS, NO PEANUTS PLEASE!!!!!!! Our leaders are misleading the American people. NO MORE CLOSED DOOR MEETINGS, DON'T SELL US OUT!!!

The people who are in favor of this bailout must have invested billions of their own money in the DERIVATIVES and are trying to recupe their bad investments buy selling these bad loans to the American people. 37 Trillion dollars plus is the number, if 700 billion dollars was the magic number for the BAILOUT, why when they pored 630 billion dollars ON Tuesday into the financials it no effect, and it just evaporated in thin air. Now they are trying to explain to us why we are too stupid to understand the situation!!!!They are the ones who created the situation, their greed has created the situation and now they want us( the stupid people) to BAILOUT the same people who got us all into this mess. NO BAILOUT, NO BAILOUT, VOTE THEM OUT, VOTE THEM OUT, NO BAILOUT, and NO PEANUTS, NO PEANUTS PLEASE!!!!!!! Our leaders are misleading the American people. NO MORE CLOSED DOOR MEETINGS, DON'T SELL US OUT!!!

Silver Surfer here... They stopped the non professional short sellers... But the market went down. The only ones who can really benefit from a sell off and the market volatility via short vs the box are the big Brokerage firms and Banks with big long stock positions in their portfolios and their teams of short sellers that are still shorting the financials. In a nutshell only the Insiders can still play the game to their advantage. Is this another RIP.

Short selling is nothing more than a trading strategy. The short seller is just taking risks. If his bets are right, he makes a pile. If they are wrong, he could lose the shirt off his back. It's downright crazy to call it wrong. Banning short selling is clearly a violation of the individual rights of the short seller and hence violative of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Let them eat cake!!

There should be NO SHORTING allowed anywhere, you don't like a stock don't buy it. What the shorts did to Bear Stearns and Lehman and AIG is criminal not to mention the stockholders....

Shorts are really just a scam for people who want to make money fast. Stopping the shorts was not intended to help Wamu or Wachovia. To late for that. But they probalby did play a roll in their downfall. I think most of these guys that are whining about the shorts are just bummed because they make money on them. It's there own private little betting parlor and they are just mad because the fun has stopped. I love the guy who said that having shorts makes the average guy face reality better when his stock was going up by bringing it back down. What a joke! I think we can deal with my stocks going up and down on my own thankyou. I hope they get rid of them permanently. -sw Chicago

It's "martial law", not "Marshall Law". :)

I thought it was only "naked shorts", which was illegal anyway.

Hey patriciat25, You are shouting in the wrong article. But as long as you have posted twice i will respond. Granted this whole fiasco has been casued by a bunch of greedy corrupt, selfish people. (By the way we Americans in general have contibuted to this by all our own greedy acts...but we don't have space to go into that). However, to do nothing at this point is not going to help the average joe either. It's like saying that a crazed pyro set your apartemnt block on fire but we aren't going to put it out because that won't help what caused the fire in the first place. Put out the fire then stop the pyros! sw- Chicago

There should never be any short selling, thats not what our financial system was founded on. You purchase a stock because of the company, because of a dividend, or just plain investing for the future. If you don't like a company don't buy its stock. Thats it...Wall Street has become a high dollar Casino-with a game for everyone. Go to AC or Las Vegas if thats if you want games...

There should not be anything like short selling anyway. You aren't allowed to do it in real estate, auctions, or anywhere else. Why doesn't some real estate broker lend me your house that is for sale in this market, and then I'll talk trash about the real estate market, the house price can fall, and when I finally decide to buy the house, I get the cash in the difference between the previous listing price, and the selling price. Selling short is nothing more than a gimmick to allow an additional gambling method and generate commissions for the brokerage firms. If people think the market is going to go down, or a stock is going to go down, they should be required to just wait until it hits their buy price and then purchase the stock. You don't get to borrow the cars on the car lot and play the game like you do stocks. Absolutely nothing is produced selling short and loads and loads of damage can occur.

patriciat25 you are dead on with what the problem is! The Fed has slashed interest rates,..made 100's of billions of dollars available through special "windows" to the credit market,...bailed out Bear Stearns,Freddie and Fannie,AIG,etc,.Central banks have pumped in upwards of a TRILLION dollars into this mess and the Dow keeps going down! Anyone who thinks that THIS bailout is the magic solution to the problem is very short sighted! The DERIVATIVE market is the problem and amount in it dwarfs the GDP of the WORLD economy! All this proposal does ics throw good money after bad

Right. The Dow was down 770 then up 500. What are the numbers with unfettered shorting? Down 1200 and up 200? Give me a break. There is a place in the market for shorting, and excluding only certain stocks because they are out of favor is stupid. Reinstate the uptick rule, and keep the disclosure. Then people can use the technique as a legitimate hedge and manipulation (ahem... GS) is minimized.

I sure it just couldn't be that many of the firms that still dropped even after the short-selling ban went into effect were previously, irreparably damaged by shorts? No, couldn't be. Shorts would never have done that. After all, they're not parasites, or are they?

NO, NO,NO,NO,NO,NO SHORTING!!! shorting is gambling, not investing. Ban shorting on all stocks.

What the average tax paying American wants is illegal practices (massive naked shorting) to stop. Not all legal short selling. We want the ultra rich to stop stealing our 401K and other investments with ludicrous lending practices and ultra sophisticated electronic trading programs.

Extending the "temp" ban means the government is treating us more and more like naughty children. We need less government regulation, not more. It was government bullying banks through legislation to make irresponsible home loans (social justice as the gooses call it), that cased this mess. The constitution is basically a restraint on government, remember. Why don't these lawmakers that believe in more and more government, immigrate to North Korea and enjoy their heaven on earth. God has left North Korea there for this reason. Move there all you tyranny lovers.

Duh!

Professional short sellers with sophisticated computer programs drive down the price of vulnerable stocks taking current volume, liquidity, buying and selling interest and other factors into consideration. Technology has created a monster capable of constantly scanning 1000's of stocks for the exact trading moment to create the clear cascade down pattern for those of us that watch trading patterns for a livingProfessionals with the right equipment can make 10's of thousands of dollars in 10 minutes by creating the cascade and covering at the bottom. Chris Cox and the SEC don't have a clue what is done with short selling because they never watch a computer trading program like I do. By the way, all the conservatives singing the praises of Chris Cox??? Tell me..... why did he eliminate the uptick rule stating there was sufficient market liquidity at the exact time liquidity was drying up??? Who asked him to eliminate it??? Whose interests was he serving????? Like to see that thought process under scrutiny??? Those other reasons for allowing short covering??? Sjhorts don't cover on big drops cause they can't call a bottom. Put options??? If you want to express bearish sentiment take your cash somewhere else. And convertible bonds should be banned. The fact it has dried up is a good thing. Convertible bonds have driven the price of some companies through the floor when unscrupulous "Get rich quick" financiers convince unwitting CEO's "OOOOOOH YEAAAAAH this is the way to go"