Maybe. What makes you think you'll be able to make any money if everyone can short at will? Stock will tank faster than you can think, and by the time your pitiful short gets filled, it will be bouncing $3. Watch what you wish for.
They don't don't go after the CFTC because they are too stupid to figure out what a derivative is and the banks are too powerfull. I mean that literally, pols being too dumb. As far as the uptick tick rule, there are markets where it doesn't exist. They seem to do ok.
I remember hearing last year that in Japan the shorting rules were changed. You guys know exactly what they tried to pull off? Also, I agree that politicians are dumb, and I'd like to add that the problem isn't that they are really dumb. The problem is that they are bastards who will ruin their country by trying to do whatever it takes to get more votes for themselves.
"By withdrawing from the DTC and requiring paper-based stock certificates, the companies claim they will be able to eliminate the improper trades. The companies trying to exit the DTC are centred in the off- exchange bulletin board market. The dispute is expected to be limited to such off-exchange trading, since the main exchanges, including the NYSE and Nasdaq, require that companies listed in their markets have shares in the DTC system." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=1106&u=/ft/20030311/bs_ft/1045511510815&printer=1
I find it highly improbable that short selling will be eliminated. Sure, stupid politicians always seem to whine about it during a market decline, but then we get a counter trend rally and they seem to shut up. Imagine how much liquidity would be removed from the market if short selling was banned. If we had another terrorist attack or shock event of sum sort... sorry longs, there is no one to take the other side of your trade. Headline = DOW down 2000 points because of no short sellers taking profits.
who knows, maybe we need a 2,000 pt washout. Although there is the Fed crash prevention team, its real. "Somebody" would step in with huge futures buys and that would be the mother of all bounces. Many people made fortunes on the crash of 87' just by going long and holding for a few days.