Uptick rule set for a comeback

It's not a terrible idea but it is an irrelevant one. There are plenty of very good reasons that the stock market is down since July of 2007 and it seems unlikely that short sellers are behind it all. Short sellers didn't force banks to make crappy loans and they didn't make consumers overextend themselves.

Part of what irks me about this is that it's yet another example of the regulatory framework we have in Washington, where politicians serve as cheerleaders and see their primary goal as making the stock market go up -- whether it deserves to or not.

Here's what I don't understand: When the market goes on a bull run, how come no one jumps forward to insist that we institute a "downtick rule" to require that investors only buy stocks on downticks? That would be incredibly stupid, but it's the same exact principle as the uptick rule.

The role of regulators should be to create an orderly, fair, and transparent marketplace that allows the market to price stocks. Arbitrary rules that make short selling more difficult have the exact opposite effect.