Kill all the shorts!!!

It is terribly amusing that people don't seem to mind all the pumping of stocks but get positively outraged if someone should happen to mention that maybe a company, BSC for example, is holding a highly leveraged pile of smoldering mortgage derivatives that aren't worth anything close to what they are carrying them on their books for. Shorts selling, naked, legal, illegal or otherwise doesn't affect the value of a stock in the slightest. If some worthless company gets shorted to zero, good. The sooner the better. Restricting short sellers will merely delay the inevitable decline in the price of overvalued stocks.

I understand your point of view Liz, and I really enjoy your enthusiasm and reporting commentary. We differ on this point, and I talk about the short sale rule in my blog. The elimination of the uptick rule is almost criminal. This is how J.P. Morgan made his fortune, and how companies can be destroyed by rumor and speculation. That is why the regulation was amended. A white knight finds it hard to intervene because even they cannot stop the shorting and the price erosion. The uptick rule would change this. In a free market economy (something that presently seems like a thing of the past) the market sorts this entire situation out and the stock price is in parity. It is a good tool for traders and investors (consider the ability go short vs. the box to postpone capital gains or losses) or just profit and an inflated market price bringing it back down where it belongs. If you decided to do away with this, would you then eliminate put options as well? You see, where would we go from there? I really enjoy you and your team, and would love the opportunity to work with you in whatever capacity I could add the most value. Regards - Anthony Pisciotta

Liz, As a mortgage broker, I would LOVE to see Mr. Buffet's idea implemented. Unfortunately, no one knows what the future interest rate change will be until it happens. A borrower who had an ARM that reset in 2002 probably would not have seen a potential change until 2006 / 2007. Another possible solution would be to simply underwrite the loan at the maximum rate permissable under the mortgage contract. If a homeowner cannot afford a 12% mortgage, why tease them into it at 6%? That sort of sets people up for a difficult future situation, does it not? Lenders hate that solution because most of their subprime customers were already tapped out at a 50% Debt-to-Income Ratio at a 6% rate (guaranteed future foreclosure). Dennis Kline Executive Loan Officer Pathfinders Mortgage, Inc. Portland, Oregon 971.327.8054 Direct

By the time the US had woken up to realize it had been naked shorted on Weapons of Mass Destruction, and there was no stock to cover Bush - e.g. They never produced the WMD's - analog to - they were never able to produce a stock to even borrow ? It was too late. Damage was done. Indeed Muriel Siebert - rumor mongering, indeed- Weapons of Mass Destruction - rumor mongering. And just look at the damage of this thinking system in a military/political content ? Sheesh- if you can naked short a company out of existence overnight by rumors ? You could probabaly use a wealth of TV, Radio and Newspaper resources to spread some rumors too eh ? lol Hey, live the life you live. I find lawyers and economicsts creepy. Both are fully capable of getting cancer OR parasites like the rest of us.

from article: Lemme tell ya, Muriel’s a firecracker and passionate about reinstating the Short Sale Uptick Rule because, she says, rumor mongers are taking down good companies just to make a buck. end clip This is EXACTLY the tactic Rove uses to take down political candidates. In the book, and movie 'Bush's Brain, Karl Rove' you learn that Rove went about notifying fundamentalist churches that McCain in 2000 - had a child with a 'black' prostitute. Odd, Turns out - the girl was ADOPTED from a MOTHER THERESA ORPHANAGE. And now Rove is backing McCain ? What formality is THIS ? Rove is JUST the kind of person that has mastered Shorting - and Naked Shorting. I do believe, acting as Bush's advisor ? the two at the least have naked shorted the entire US, from those WMD's they could never find to oh ? hmm... let's just wait and see - why spoil a surprise.

Hello Liz, Great article! There is much to agree with. It's sad that there are those with little or no consideration for others, just that they make a buck. So glad you're with Fox. I enjoy seeing you on "The Factor" from time to time. All Best, Ron Loree

In a way ? Regarding short selling ? it's not too indifferent than taking a TV station, calling it a news station, and then seeking to alter the value a viewer will give to an idea - or stock analagously here. In other words, Naked Shorting can damage a stocks value even if the trade is going to fail, the naked short STILL influences and causes loss to the stock. Same with guests on Fox News ! Just merely being traded around ? They lose - all it takes is one person like Karl Rove in this world to just 'say something' - or naked short trade, without any regard to having to back it up. At the end of the day ? The damage caused will be so great ? It will be as if you just robbed a bank, walk out and a tornado had just passed through, so all of a sudden ? no one even cares you just robbed the bank. Naked shorting is the worst, it requires nothing backing it - oh wait naked shorting ? sub prime ? EXACT SAME thinking system. It's attempting to leverage yourself on nothing. Hmm- Thankfully we only have these pathologies in economics ? and never TV news ? I mean, sheesh, imagine if someone just 'bought' the software CNN used - and virtually over night just created themselves as a TV news network with one sole purpose - and that sole purpose has nothing to do with reporting the news in any fair and balance regard. Heck - Fox News IS an SEC and FCC violation in waiting. I can't WAIT until the hearings. To have worked at Fox will be a black mark I anticipate MOST places in the world - so make sure you get paid enough ! gonna need it ! the mess of who said what - did what will be so intertwined, the world ? will just black mark fox after the sweet hammer of justice comes down on Fox - YEARS over due. Rove - sorry pal, you're out of the loop - Maybe you should start bothering the CIA Karl - the FBI likely has had enough of your trip tripe. Fox News IS one big fat short sell with no intent to ever produce the stock - or the weapons of mass destruction ! In fact, Iraq with WMD's was a short sale. There was never a stock to be borrowed - I'm content life is short, I've had too much insolence, ignorance and incompetence to last me the rest of my days just observing Fox, Ollie North and Bush - what Tony took to the grave isn't necessarily in the ground Moody !

I suppose all people are doing is shorting humanity.

Muriel Siebert is 100% correct in saying the application of rules to a selective group to the exclusion of others is absolutely wrong. And the way the uptick rule was eliminated last year has long been a standing joke. While pretending to be concerned about the protection of shareholders, the SEC, without any move to consult anyone, except those who benefited by removal of the requirement, made it possible to speed up the process of destroying the share value of targeted equities. All this in the name of "providing liquidity in an orderly market." What a joke. Thank you, Ms Clayman, for having Muriel Siebert on the program, and for giving the public a glimpse of the ugliness and greed in the stock market that has long been hidden.

Dear Liz, I forgot to thank you for doing all this fine work on illegal short selling. Seems you are the only one on national T.V. that has the courage to tell the truth. We sure need you. Dan

Dear Liz, I have been a fan of yours for years and thought you were the most serious of all the cnbc crew. I am glad you left I think you are way too classy for that two faced crew of personality mongers. All of them think they are some kind of star talent and beauty queens, not. Please keep up the fine journalistic work of reporting the truth for the little guy. You are a great journalist and as pretty as ever. Sincerely Dan

hi liz thanks fer ya article. them shorts (naked shorts) sure killed me. who would have thought ones broker would suspend a stock ya bought so the client couldn't trade it in any way and when ya call to ask whats up they tell you hey you don't own that stock. kind of strange isn't it? and...when i called these guys simmons and cooper law firm 1-800-479-9533 they tell me it is my fault and i am responsible for those that naked shorted my investments. so...let me get this straight ...if i put my money in a savings account at a bank and a robber comes in and steals the money according to simmons and cooper i am responsible for that robbery. it is probably a good thing they declined to represent me. as for WELLS TRADE INVESTMENTS they will one day hopefully answer to the question why they suspended my stocks while the market makers raped the value of my investment and once finished my stock was then tradeable. but who would want to trade it as its value is near zero? keep up the good work liz.

Dear Liz: Muriel is correct the uptick rule should be brought back as soon as possible.....Down tick shorting was brought in on the S&P stocks in 1987, which culminated in the crash of '87......that is another story I can share if you like. The lack of an uptick shorting rule means stock traders can drive a stock down as fast as they want. They are hitting bids to get the price down, not necessarily to short the stock...they want price movement....and they get it..... In December of this year, I will celebrate my 50th year on the floor of an exchange.....clerk, trader, specialist assistant, floor broker and firm owner for the last 30+ years. I pretty well know what I am talking about on this subject. Dick Casey.....Chairman/CEO, Casey Securities,LLC.....San Francisco

Liz you're not alone on the investing end. When I was in Junior College and the Univerisity of Southern Mississippi where I studied Film Emphasis in Hattiesburg Ms, it didn't dawn on me either to invest money in the stock market. U know I had a course in journalism and televison too. Speed up ten years late late '90s--following my dad's advice I invested in in an IRA and Mutual Funds accounts. Now I'm a long time investor. But I still save money too. So u see you're not alone. Now with the stocks down I would now like to buy a stock certificate. Yet there are so many fine companies and corporations in the stock market to invest into. Right now I haven't found a company yet. I'll find something to invest in. Journali pup--I like that one. Well I was the film pup. LOL

Loved everything Muriel said. Bring her back. She is easy to understand and concise.

Come on Liz. As Patrick Byrne said yesterday on FBN, "what is it about 'illegal' that you don't understand?? I go back a long way with this, at least ten years, and I had to live it first hand. The only question I would ask of the esteemed Ms. Siebert is, 'Where the hell have you been , Muriel? All anyone has to do is look around. Look at the devastation. Can we afford another year of this current crop of minds on Wall ST? I don't thing they'll be another year at this rate. The data is there. The companies are not. It's a matter of record. Christopher Cox was made to institute the ban on the 19 companies. He has real time data, unlike the four month lag he releases to the public - data that shows, btw, a huge naked short raid on BSC that you'll be paying for for years. Cox knew the financials wouldn't make it; he hasn't the guts to act on his own. I'm guessing Hank came a visiting. Yes, naked shorting is a scam. I've talked to specialists about the antics of floor brokers. I've talked to management of companies attacked by these animals. It has to be stopped, or you'll be talking about milking cows again. There won't be equity markets.