Good articles, Player.

So let's get this straight... They've been talking about insituting a one day settlement period for equities in Canada for at least the last three years. They got rid of the uptick rule last year, and could easily re-enforce it. Two simple things to do that wouldn't surprise anyone because everyone's expecting them. Simple in a modern electronic world to have a one day settlement period, and even simpler to actually enforce and monitor it. Just a matter of computer programs. Pretty hard to naked short if you have to settle within 24 hors and someone is actually monioring whether the goods are provided or not.

The rest is all stupid smokescreens and scapegoating. I suppose that the powers that be are hoping the stocks being shorted will stay up in value for a longer period of time. Someone correct me here, because I really don't know if there was as sophisticated a market in 1929. But I sincerely doubt that short sellers caused that stock market crash. If the banks keep diluting themselves and reporting record losses, why shouldn't they go down in value? If the major oil companies, manufacturing or mining companies do the same, their stocks plummet.

MR