Comment Text:
Respectfully I ask that my comments be considered in their entirety. I have followed the markets stocks, bonds, treasuries, and especially precious metals. One theme became common to read about and that was the practice of short selling/naked short selling.
I do not understand and respectfully ask this commission to explain how someone-anyone-can sell something that they do not own, nor do they even have in their possession? If I tried to sell merchandise that I did not own or have I would be committing fraud, but somehow it is different when a certificate is issued, but does that really make it so? And what of a failure to be able to redeem that certificate for currency or physical metal to be removed for storage elsewhere? Allowing entities to see something that they do not have and subsidiaries of these entities to sell under different names sets the market up for a failure to deliver-does it not?
I propose to eliminate all short positions period. Selling something that one does not have, and may not be able to get-or afford to get and go bankrupt and leave the investors holding the bag yet again if plain simple fraud, done with securities securities fraud.
Failure to ensure the integrity of the markets despite repeated warnings and many public comments drawing immense concern for a market failure will not be able to be spun as Madoff's ponzi scheme was and there will certainly be calls for charges of gross negligence and conspiracy and bribery. In sum it will not look good for the commission or government regulatory officials at any and all levels after Madoff, after A. Stanford, after Enron, Worldcom, after the failures of BP, and after the utter systemic failures leading up to 9-11.
