I am asking the Commission to consider on an emergency basis a new disclosure rule that will require hedge funds and other large investors to disclose their short positions. Prepared by the staffs of the Division of Investment Management and the Division of Corporation Finance, the new rule will be designed to ensure transparency in short selling. Managers with more than $100 million invested in securities would be required to promptly begin public reporting of their daily short positions. The managers currently report their long positions to the SEC.
This is getting very scary. What imbeciles. I heard today that they had planned an emergency measure to force banks to mark their assets (in the loosest sense of the word) honestly. But Ben and Hank put the kibosh on that one. Apparently they want a weekend off, and they’re still working out how to blow up the shorts in Friday’s quad witch.
It’s getting late and I’m tired, so this initiative will have to wait another day and some more information before being more formally dissected. But please read the release. Especially the bit about “rational” markets. Speaking of unintended consequences.
