FROM A POSTER ON RAGINGBULL
ragingbull.altavista.com.
CRUSH NAKED SHORTING -NOW-HERES HOW!!
NAKED SHORTING: THE SEWERSCHOOL PRACTICE OF SHORTING A STOCK WITHOUT BORROWING ACTUAL SHARES AND THEN SELL-SELL-SELL-SELL-DRIVING THE PRICE DOWN-MAKING MILLIONS AND FIERCELY SCREWING THE SMALL NAIVE PENNY STOCK INVESTOR OUT OF THE RENT MONEY. REAL NICE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO INTRODUCE TO MOM.. YOU CAN BITE THE BAS-TARDS BACK—WRITE THE S.E.C. AND YOUR CONGRESSMAN --- A HE-LL OF A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE….GET MAD—I MEAN REALLY MAD—ITS YOUR MONEY IN THEIR POCKET—AND THEY NEED IT MORE—RIGHT?? LIKE SHI-T THEY DO.
TO EMAIL YOUR SENATOR-- go to: senate.gov
TO EMAIL YOUR REPRESENATIVE go to: www.house.gov/writerep/
TO EMAIL SENATOR PHIL GRAMM, chairman of the senate banking committee use:
phil gramm@gramm.senate.gov
To email representative jim leach, chairman of the house committee on banking and finance use: rachel.schrepferman@mail.house.gov
To email the securities and exchange commission,enforcement division go to : enforcement@sec.gov
WHAT TO SAY(ONLY SUGGESTED,JUST DO IT):
Dear Senator ---- or Representative----
I’m a small investor trying to improve my life by investing what little money I have in the great american dream called the stock market.
The problem Sir/Madam is the playing field for this dream pursuit isn’t even remotely level. It’s the same old story ,with yet another face, of the rich and powerful manipulating the less fortunate(but struggling)masses.
The variation of this timeless struggle we refer to is aptly called “naked shortselling”. This product of the sewer involves shrewd, manipulative crooks who “manage” to borrow or “short” millions of shares of non existent stock and dumpsell or flood the market with said nonexistent shares thus driving the price of an otherwise exciting, potentially highly successful company into the ground, the slimeballs make millions from their short position.They accelerate this sick process by paying”bashers” to scare h-ell out of naïve small investors via distorted half truths and out right lies posted on message boards,bulletin boards,chat rooms,etc.These victims,as usual, are the ones that can least afford to lose the rent money.Boss Tweed or Elmer Gantry would love it.
We,the little people, who only want a fair atmosphere to invest our money, demand that you help us in putting a stop to this disgusting, retched practice.
THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF SHORT SELLERS ON INVESTORS
The Normal Investment Stance
All of our investments are motivated by hope--the hope that our stock selection will provide 1) the means to achieve some of our most cherished ambitions and ideals, or 2) provide the ability to correct experiences which have been missing or insufficient in our lives. Whether our goals involve accumulating money, power, self-esteem, independence, or other idiosyncratic phenomena, hope of success underlies all investment philosophies. At the same time, most of us fear that any stock selection will repeat previous disappointments or traumatic experiences (losses) from childhood. Each of these two dimensions has unique meaning for every investor, and the understanding of such meaning can illuminate the psychological factors that determine both our rational and irrational behavior. So in this context, let's take a look at how the shorts wittingly or unwittingly impact the dread of repeating earlier feelings of vulnerability.
The Creation of Misunderstanding
One of the primary principles that motivates us all is the organizing and ordering of experience--in other words, making meaning out of our perceptions. Most of us who enjoy investing in development stage companies have done considerable due diligence before committing monies. It is our understanding of the company's products, services and management that leads to a sense of confidence in the face of risk. It is this "understanding" which strengthens our sense of self and allows us to remain invested long term in an early stage company. At the same time there is always a fear that we might be misconstruing or misinterpreting a situation. This is why it is so important for management of development stage companies to continually make themselves available to investors. For as long as we feel knowledgeable and confident, it is possible to tolerate a wide variety of emotions as early stage companies attempt to achieve success against major odds. Without this confidence and understanding, we can't tolerate glitches in the company's progress, and we tend to sell out at just the wrong time.
One of the first ploys of those attempting to manipulate our emotions is to create misunderstanding. For example, reports are published employing emotionally tinged language with highly pejorative connotations--e.g. "It's been reported that highly questionable relationships exist with the apparently unknown investment bankers..." Reported by whom? What questionable relationships? Who says they are questionable? Investment bankers apparently unknown by whom? Why does it matter if they are unknown? These are all reasonable queries in the face of such a statement. But the herd rarely challenges such distortions. Instead we buy into the demeaning and inflammatory connotations that are designed to create confusion and misunderstanding in a contextual absence of any accurate facts to support a particular author's pejorative biases.
When we feel we've misjudged a stock pick, a number of interesting psychological phenomena take place. The containment of strong emotion becomes impossible (thus the normal self doubt characterizing such investments is no longer tolerated); psychological defenses such as paranoia are mobilized, and the confidence in our decisions begins to break down. In a word, the successful creation of misunderstanding leads to significant self-doubt, which is increasingly difficult to tolerate, and eventuates in exiting an important position at exactly the wrong time.
Adhominem Arguments
An Adhominem argument is defined as one that is directed at destroying the validity of a proposition, product, technology or service by attacking a person's character rather than addressing the rational flaws in the company's product or technology. For example, a CEO might be attacked because one of his or her shareholders had been involved in an unrelated shady deal ten years ago; thus, by implication, the reader takes away the idea that the CEO might be dishonest also. Or the Chief Financial Officer may have worked for a company that went into bankruptcy in the past, thus implying that the CFO had a direct responsibility for the bankruptcy and will repeat his or her mistakes in the present situation.
Many of us remain with a small company through difficult times because we admire and respect its management. One of the requirements for maintaining our investment confidence is our connection with available others who can be admired, looked up to and felt to be a source of strength and empowerment. (This is one reason, why we become so frustrated and angry when management lets us down, and it is this rage, which fuels many frivolous shareholder lawsuits). By calculating ways to destroy the credibility of such admired others, the enemies of a company attempt to weaken investors' connections to their admired management. Psychologically, this disruption tends to temporarily short-circuit our self-assurance, leading to a drop in self-esteem and vitality--and thus our investment staying power. For it is our imagined (or real) connection with a competent management that safeguards against mistrust and second-guessing ourselves.
Contagious Emotions
It is a fact of life that emotions can be contagious. Whenever our sense of self weakens, a psychological regression takes place in which cognitive functioning no longer remains at a logical rational, level. In other words, rather than maintaining our usual cognitive sophistication when making reasoned judgements, we begin to associate words and concepts with their emotional connotations. For example, the word red no longer denotes a color along a spectrum; it connotes danger. When the media wittingly or unwittingly relies on short sellers for their headlines "du jour" (those sound-bytes that sell newspapers or attract viewers) the media choose emotionally laden topics designed to appeal to investor emotion, usually suspicion and paranoia. For example, if a struggling company resorts to a Reg.-S stock offering, company detractors can point to the numerous underhanded stock deals that have occurred in what is actuality a legal and legitimate mode of financing. Such comments rarely include an analysis of the specific deal under discussion to determine its merits, or the fact that the financing may have been, for example, obtained at market rates rather than at the usual discount. The seeming intent of such inflammatory language is to evoke in investors an internal response, which has some affinity to the author's pejorative analogy by relying on the fact that emotions are contagious. Such subtly biased (positive or negative) writing has been referred to in the literature as "journalism of illusion," and more recently by Robert Samuelson as "junk journalism."
The World as Attacker
Whenever we feel threatened by anxiety, misunderstanding, or blatant attacks on our judgements, capacities or character, we become emotionally vulnerable. At his point our sensitivities become heightened. Sights, sounds, smells, off hand comments, or rumors that are typically ignored become very disturbing to us. Such vulnerability includes a readiness to experience the world as an attacker because the stimuli to which we have become so sensitive become organized in a paranoid way in order to be mastered. This is the reason why those who use emotionally manipulative devices can so easily disrupt financing arrangements. The investment bankers who are potentially open to funding development stage companies become just as caught up in the generated paranoia as the average investor. Furthermore, these investment bankers succumb to herd mentality, saying to themselves, if Merrill Lynch or Smith Barney hasn't jumped to secure the company's business, why should we?
The Negative Use of the Obvious
Many concepts in the investment world are taken for granted, but these notions are easily manipulated to appear anomalous. For example, a common ploy when discussing development stage companies is to point out that the company has never reported any meaningful sales or earnings. One could argue that such comments either reflects very little experience investing in development stage companies, or that someone is attempting to turn the obvious into frightening revelations. It contributes to the naïve impression that one should not invest in companies, which have shown no profits. As a specialist in development stage companies, it seems fair to say I have never seen a development stage company that has produced revenues and earnings. But the negative use of the obvious creates a psychological feeling of estrangement in us--e.g. how could I be so stupid as to invest in a company with no earnings or revenues"? The distortion of common sense facts fosters a sense of enfeeblement in one's sense of self, as we feel exposed to such an "obvious" mistake.
The Illusion of Objectivity
Those attempting to manipulate investor emotion set themselves up to become the admired, omnipotent, and reliable purveyor of objective information to others. Playing on the notion that companies sometimes exaggerate the benefits of their products or services, these individuals display an unshakable self-confidence in their statements and express their "knowledge" with absolute certainty. Usually they'll back it up by erroneous or out of context statements from ostensibly reputable studies which are not made available to investors. These characteristics are especially designed to sway those of us whose self-esteem has been temporarily damaged during periods of market upheaval. For it is during such periods that we are seeking hard facts and certainty. Much like cult leaders, the "experts" surface at this point to "objectively" point out the moral flaws in other's personalities and behavior.
It is only by recognizing these subtle, manipulative devices that we can avoid acting irrationally -especially in the face of volatile market retreats.
SEC FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS OF MM’S—(MARKET MAKERS)=CROOKS
OR HOW THEE AND ME GET IT RIGHT IN THE AZZ (READ BELOW AND WEEP)
SEC Investigation Cites 30 Market Makers For Fraud Published by OTCNN.com By Jack Burney 06/16/2000 08:30 AM CST Market maker manipulation is not just conjecture, no matter how MMs try to hide their activities. The SEC investigated and charged 30 of them with fraud and violations of the Act. In Release No. 34-40900, the Securities Exchange Commission published the findings of an investigation of market maker practices that began in 1994, and instituted proceedings pursuant to Sections 15(b) and 21C against 30 market-manipulating firms and individuals, and the repercussions are still resonating. This SEC release was the source of the taped telephone conversations OTC News Network ran earlier this week. They are part of the SEC investigation and part of the record. “The most common form of violative activity uncovered by the (SEC) staff’s investigation was the coordinated entry of bid and/or ask quotations by market makers into the NASDAQ system for the purpose of artificially affecting the price of subsequent transactions,” the investigators said. “Such coordinated activity constituted market manipulation in violation of the antifraud provisions” of the Exchange Act. The manipulative conduct of the market makers, according to the SEC release, “was intended to increase the market makers’ trading profits or otherwise advance their proprietary interests, often at the expense of their customers and other market participants.” The SEC investigation uncovered “anticompetitive and improper practices” by market makers in violation of certain provisions of the federal securities laws. “Nasdaq market making firms and their traders” the investigators charged, “coordinated their trading and other activities with other market makers to create false or misleading appearances in, or otherwise artificially influence, the market for various Nasdaq stocks. The manipulative modus operandi: One market maker would ask another to move its quoted prices in order to create a different appearance to the market from which the requesting market maker could benefit. For example, a market maker needing to buy stock because of a short inventory position, would ask another market maker to move his quote downwards to join the inside ask. The purpose of the requested quote movement was to signal a downward price trend. That way, potential sellers would be misled into reducing their price expectations. After the quote movement, the requesting market maker would buy the stock at a lower price, at the expense of the seller. That constituted market maker fraud, SEC investigators charged, in violation of Section 15(c)(1) of the Exchange Act and Rule 15c1-2 thereunder, and the prohibition against fictitious quotations provided in Section 15(c)(2) and Rule 15c2-7 thereunder. Market maker manipulation – MMM – saw MMs failing on three scores: (1) to provide the “best execution” of customer orders, intentionally delaying trade reports, (2) to honor their quoted prices, (3) to create or maintain required books and records. Market maker misconduct was typically, but not always, limited in duration and scope to intraday violations relating to particular stocks, but cumulatively had a detrimental impact on the fairness and efficient functioning of the Nasdaq market. The SEC charges relate specifically to Nasdaq stock trading, which is supposed to be closely regulated. Just imagine what the MMs did when no disclosure was required, as with OTCBB stocks. The investigation also leads one to surmise that the cancer of MMM is far more widespread than originally believed, and that these arrogant “pros” aren’t smart enough to make money in the market legally. Each of the market maker respondents submitted an Offer of Settlement which was included in the SEC’s Orders Making Findings and Imposing Sanctions, and which the Commission agreed to accept. The SEC added that all of the respondents did not engage in every type of violative conduct described. For the list of “respondents” and the text of the whole investigative report, go to www.sec.gov and Release No. 34-40900. Though that phase of the SEC effort was completed, the ramifications continue. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIRED OF INVOLUNTARY VIOLENT A_NAL INTERCOURSE,THE INNOCENT LAMBS ROSE UP AND BITE THE SNARLING WOLF RIGHT IN THE -----(OWWWW!)
EARTH SEARCH ANNOUNCES CERTIFICATE ORDER OUT PROGRAM
Earth Search today announced that it had determined that OTCBB market makers were abnormally "short" Earth Search
stock.
"There is no reason for such large short positions to be taken in our stock," said Larry Vance, chairman of Earth Search.
"NASD rule 3370 (b)(2)(B) which allows member firms to make a short sale without having to make a positive
determination that securities are available to borrow for delivery by settlement date, allows these so called market makers
to sell securities they never have to deliver. This has the effect of creating securities out of thin air because there is no
accountability required by the NASD for OTCBB stocks. Now these very same "market makers" have a vested interest in
keeping the stock price as low as possible where they can cover their positions if they are audited."
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) is comprised of brokerage firms ranging in size from the very
largest, who's names are known to all, to unknown local and regional firms known only to a small cadre of clients and other
small firms. The NASD is a self regulating group designed to enforce the rules in case of violations, such as abuse of rule
3370 (b)(2)(B). The SEC and state district attorneys are the final stop for regulatory enforcement.
"The stock holders of Earth Search don't deserve to be treated this way by unscrupulous market makers who short
OTCBB stocks for profit in the name of legitimate market making," complained Vance. "But there is a solution- we have
been approached by a senior United States senator who informed us that there are hundreds of companies like ours who
fall prey to this sort of activity. Currently the senator and his staff are investigating the abuse of rule 3370 (b)(2)(B) as well
as our situation in order to determine which federal agency would most efficiently investigate these issues. By the time the
investigation is completed and all of the bulletin board companies list their complaints, we are optimistic that the rules
governing short positions on the bulletin board will be changed to reflect a more fair and free market rather than a market
controlled by market makers. In the meantime, we suggest that ALL shareholders of Earth Search immediately order out
their stock certificates. This means that you request from your brokerage house that they immediately deliver to you the
stock certificates representing all of your shares of Earth Search. This will require the market makers to go into the market
to purchase shares to deliver into your hands. Not only will they have to buy one share to give to you, they will have to buy
another share to pay back what they borrowed in order to "book" your share to your account when you purchased the
stock."
"If existing shareholders as well as new shareholders order delivery of their certificates, you can expect activity by not only
the market makers but by the brokerage firm through which you purchased your shares," said Vance.
"You can expect your brokerage firm to be very much against this policy |
