The Rolling Stones outline has been drafted by Janice and I would like to post it here. All may comment but don't expect Janice to be accomodating to everyone. I feel she will be most receptive, and rightly so for efficiency sake, to Art, Serf, Fringe and myself. I have made some suggestions below the outline so please read beyond the outline. I would like to thank Janice for taking the time to put something together this weekend, it's more than I did this weekend for BCIT.
RS outline
Introduction: We need a hook here, to interest people in the story. I think something along these lines would work: “Do you use an online brokerage? Do you believe they know what they’re doing? Do you think the SEC is an efficient government agency that knows how to respond to any situation presented to it?
Next we need a brief explanation of the world of penny stocks. Most people out there don’t play them, and many don’t even know what they are. The point that they’re not regulated in the way stocks on other exchanges are regulated needs to be made.
Following, an explanation of what happened with GVRP and BCIT. Obviously it won’t be easy to do this concisely, especially for an audience that probably doesn’t understand much about splits on the one hand, and the correct procedures for the issuance and registration of shares on the other.
Then we move on to the reaction of the companies, the brokerages, and the SEC to the events described above. Here’s where I’ll use the emails shareholders got from the officials they communicated with. I’d like to use as many as possible, because they’re both shocking and funny. Naturally I’ll include an account of the hilarious weekend during which GVRP players who were Ameritrade customers had billions of dollars showing in their accounts. It’s always good to put something amusing in any article; it keeps people reading.
Needless to say, the above will be the longest part of the article, and the meatiest. I’ll close as I opened: with questions about whether the brokerages and the SEC know what they’re doing. I could also make some suggestions for better regulation of the OTC markets.
MY SUGGESTIONS: My biggest suggestion is not to attack the SEC's competence or efficiency but perhaps their willingness to enforce their own regulations. True, there may be elements within the SEC that do not understand their own regulations but I think it's more a lack of holding brokers, MM's and companies accountable to the regulations. The rules were setup pretty well, so somebody within the SEC is competent, now we need them to follow through with the enforcement of their own regs. That's more the point I would like to see you hammer home in this article.
During the 2nd paragraph (brief explanation of penny stocks) you might want to make the point that not all penny stocks are scams, as public stigma may have it. Some are just young companies getting a foothold, like TNOG (Titan Oil & Gas). You can tell them that Xerox started out at $0.32 and just look at them now. So in a way, we're calling for stricter regulation of the penny stocks which will be better for the companies and the investors.
I think the rest sounds really good. Humor is always helpful and I have a couple of emails and a letter from Scottrade that may be helpful. My letter also incriminates Scottrade because it says, in very plain language, that they were made aware of the SEC halt of BCIT trading well in advance of the actual halt date, at which time they shut down buying but not selling. Manipulation if you ask me.
Thanks again Janice. Let's get all comments to Janice by Wednesday so she can start drafting the actualy article by next week.
Michael
Pennystocks, we're in the looney bin for sure.
