letters

SEC rule: more harm than good

In a recent speech, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt condemned the practice of “selective disclosure” and raised the specter of adding to the list of 126 proposed SEC rulemakings.

This rule would bar just about any public company from disclosing material information to persons outside the firm without simultaneously disclosing it to the general public.

While the intention may be laudable, its effects would be far from benign: curtailing research, increasing market volatility and adding unnecessarily to the heavy regulatory burden already faced by analysts. To accept these costs to address a few incidents of questionable ethics is akin to throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Frank Fernandez

Chief economist, director of research

Securities Industry Association

New York

It’s plain Gross!

About halfway through Dan Gross’ diatribe (Nov. 1), I had to towel off because it was all wet.

I don’t know if Mr. Gross is naive or a fool, but based on this piece he seems to be a naive fool. It appears that he is unaware that the politicians who are defeated are the exception rather than the rule. The fact that corporate types are paid by revenues derived from customers, who voluntarily contribute those revenues with their purchases, also obviously escaped Mr. Gross. Imagine how much the government would collect without the means to withhold taxes.

Let’s get back to informed business reporting and eliminate the puerile nonsense from those with questionable political agendas.

Dan Calabria

South Pasadena, Fla.