They didn't understand that, if short sellers could sell much more stock than there is stock, which was what was happening, then the short sellers could overwhelm even the healthiest of financials...

These shorts were creating stock out of thin air, and then using it to smack share prices down. They didn't own it. They couldn't find it. They didn't need to... They just overwhelmed it... And you paid the price, because the SEC never even understood the nefarious nature of this kind of short selling.

Of course, if you could only sell stock that you had borrowed first, there was no way you could sell more shares than there are outstanding... Unlimited supply created by shorts means limited demand by buyers... as they will always be swamped and scared by new stock that doesn't exist.

Why did Cox not understand that?... Or did he not care?... How could he be so in league with the short sellers, bent on destroying the banking system?... He was truly, truly what my great, great Uncle Lenin would describe as being a "useful idiot."

Now, in my day as a hedge fund manager, we all thought that using naked short selling to manipulate stocks was still legal. It still is. You can trust me. I'm a lawyer. I don't just play one on TV...

But, apparently, Chris Cox' laissez faire, republican SEC didn't care. They didn't enforce the rules. And, because of that, Lehman died. And Bear was only saved by a last-minute traded takeunder...

You want someone to blame for the financial collapse?... I think the SEC is looking like a great target. They just let this happen...

Now, we all know the truth, and it's beyond outrageous...

Do I want to see these short sellers investigated?... You bet. I mean, I know you've got to investigate them before you put them in jail... you can't skip the whole process like I'd like...

But, honestly, what I really want is for the SEC to do its job, and make sure these things don't happen again. If they restore the uptick rule, and force the shorts to wait for a stock to move higher, before they can bang it down... that was a rule by the way that, of course, Chris Cox eliminated... then these kinds of shenanigans and bear raids would be much harder to perpetrate.

If the hedge funds can't knock the stock down with fraudulent naked short sales, there's no incentive for them to break the rules!

You know what?... This stuff's killing me. I mean, we screamed about it on this show when it still mattered, and now we get blamed for causing the problem. Excuse me for being a little infuriated... even as I take the beatdown like a man...