The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moved against short sellers this week.

The list of 17 companies spans the SEC has decided to protect from short sellers includes Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) to Goldman Sachs (GS), Lehman Brothers (LEH), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Merrill Lynch (MER).

This is a gross double standard, says Dave Gonigam in Desidooru Saloon. Many of the companies the SEC is protecting from short sellers profit from shorting stocks…

The tough thing about buying stocks is, you never know when they’ll appreciate in price (and you’ll make a profit). The other tough thing is, no matter how much homework you’ve done, there’s always a risk that something will go terribly wrong (fraud, accident, etc.) and your position will be wiped out. There are no guarantees when it comes to buying equity.