SEC mulling curbing limits on short selling

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ahead-of-the-BellSEC-poised-apf-4172165911.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=

In addition to restricting short selling, the SEC needs to expand their enforcement of naked short selling, including elimination of the market maker exemption (so-called the "Bernie Madoff exemption" after the infamous Wall Streek crook), which enables them to create phantom shares. This method of "married puts" allows shorts to deploy illegal bear raids on stocks without actually shorting the underlying shares, and keeps their illegal price manipulation activities under the regulatory radar.

See Chapter 2 of Deep Capture on how the "married puts" strategy works. In fact, reading all 15 chapters will help investors understand better how the markets are rigged.