"... Those FINRA numbers ... are purported to be an ALL INCLUSIVE full summary of ALL REPORTED short participation ...." I know of no definition for "short participation", but I do know that FINRA numbers are not "all inclusive" by any definition, since they fail to show one leg of each two-legged transaction and therefore fail to show a lot of the immediate, within-the-day covering of temporary short sales, as well as some of the temporary short-selling itself.
"... given the exemptions in the rules that have existed, and those that still exist, there are a number of ways that settlement can be postponed... indefinitely... without creating failures to deliver." No, there is not even one way, let alone "a number of ways". All the mumbo jumbo in the world about "ex clearings" does not change that fact. If shares are not received by a buyer by the settlement date, the entity which fails to receive them reports that failure to deliver, and it doesn't matter what kind of supposed black magic the market makers might be using in the background. Reporting of fails to deliver does not depend on anything the intermediaries do or don't do other than whether actual shares were delivered. FINRA has never reported any information to the contrary to anyone, and it is of no matter whether those who read the FINRA information can understand it.
"Investors should be ... aware that just because something is posted on the internet by someone posing as an authority, that doesn't make the preposterous things that they claim... true." Now that surely is correct!
AI
