I’m not going to blame the credit crisis on Chris Cox. I’m not going to suggest that his inept management and incompetency regulating the equity markets caused a global rut or that his borderline illegal emergency orders exacerbated the underlying instability of a fragile market. I’m not going to allege that he’s part of a cabal of crooked politicians that take their queues from the Wall Street Journal rather than executing their duties faithfully.
I won’t try to make him out to be some kind of puppet of the profiteers. I won’t try to say that he’s in the pocket of big money. I won’t allege that his motivations are suspicious at best and devious at worst.
I will say that Mr. Cox has single-handedly performed an excellent job of staging the market for a collapse. Abolishing the uptick rule July 6th, 2007? Ingenius! Way to ramp up the instability. I’m sure VIX traders were delighted! I’m sure short sellers were ecstatic. Until, of course, you told them they weren’t allowed to short! I wonder what happens when you tell one side of the trade to get lost? Oh. Right. Wicked volatility. Ah, what a nice roller coaster ride, Mr. Cox. Care to find where I lost my lunch?
