Of course banning of short sales would be crazy, stupid, anti American, anti - capitalistic, destructive of our financial system and our ability, in the long run, to raise capital and build wealth, employment and all the rest. I Couldn't agree more! Dead on.WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission intends to temporarily ban short-selling, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday night. It's unclear if the commission has approved the move, the Journal reported. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were briefing congressional leaders Thursday night. The U.S. move would follow a similar action by U.K. regulators on Thursday.
BUT..... I think we're getting a little carried away here speculating about what may be coming. I can find no more on the Internet than the above article in terms of specifics, and it actually says very little.
In fact, the above article says the "move would follow a similar action by U.K. Regulators on Thursday." That action by U.K. Regulators was limited to financial stocks ONLY.
While I agree that a ban on shorting financial stocks or any other sector would be stupid and just plain wrong for a whole litany of valid reasons-- I think when we assume that there is about to be a full out total ban of all short selling -- we may be getting just a teensy bit ahead of ourselves.
Okay- time for me to go pour my martini......
