4 Market-Meltdown Myths

uh,,,

If you had 29 billion and you now ONLY have a billion I really don't care. And, I would bet most of America won't either. REALLY !!!

of NY @ Sep 22, 2008 14:00:19 PM

They look pretty too

In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as certificate of stock or share certificate) is a legal document that certifies ownership of a specific number of stock shares (or fractions thereof) in a corporation. In large corporations, buying shares does not always lead to a stock certificate (in a case of a small number of shares purchased by a private individual, for instance).

Usually only shareholders with stock certificates can vote in a shareholders' general meeting. Sometimes a shareholder with a stock certificate can give a proxy to another person to allow them to vote the shares in question. Voting rights are defined by the corporation's charter and corporate law.

Stock certificates are generally divided into brooks baker forms: registered stock certificates and bearer stock certificates. A registered stock certificate is normally only evidence of title, and a record of the true holders of the shares will appear in the stockholder's register of the corporation. A bearer stock certificate, as its name implies is a bearer instrument, and physical possession of the certificate entitles the holder to exercise all legal rights associated with the stock. Bearer stock certificates are becoming uncommon: they were popular in offshore jurisdictions for their perceived confidentiality, and as a useful way to transfer beneficial title to assets (held by the corporation) without payment of stamp duty. International initiatives have curbed the use of bearer stock certificates in offshore jurisdictions, and tend to be available only in onshore financial centres, although they are rarely seen in practice.

HillbillyBill of TN @ Sep 19, 2008 16:04:47 PM

They look pretty too

In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as certificate of stock or share certificate) is a legal document that certifies ownership of a specific number of stock shares (or fractions thereof) in a corporation. In large corporations, buying shares does not always lead to a stock certificate (in a case of a small number of shares purchased by a private individual, for instance).

Usually only shareholders with stock certificates can vote in a shareholders' general meeting. Sometimes a shareholder with a stock certificate can give a proxy to another person to allow them to vote the shares in question. Voting rights are defined by the corporation's charter and corporate law.

Stock certificates are generally divided into brooks baker forms: registered stock certificates and bearer stock certificates. A registered stock certificate is normally only evidence of title, and a record of the true holders of the shares will appear in the stockholder's register of the corporation. A bearer stock certificate, as its name implies is a bearer instrument, and physical possession of the certificate entitles the holder to exercise all legal rights associated with the stock. Bearer stock certificates are becoming uncommon: they were popular in offshore jurisdictions for their perceived confidentiality, and as a useful way to transfer beneficial title to assets (held by the corporation) without payment of stamp duty. International initiatives have curbed the use of bearer stock certificates in offshore jurisdictions, and tend to be available only in onshore financial centres, although they are rarely seen in practice.

HillbillyBill of TN @ Sep 19, 2008 16:04:47 PM

Hillbilly really?...a piece of paper... really?

You must be a redneck if...

you don't keep your shares at DTC.

The invisible hand brought the market down. And nothing any government does can stop it. Adam Smith just bi+ch slapped Wall Street.

The democrats will lie to you and tell you otherwise, knowing that there are enough retards living in trailers, ghettos or hollywood to get them power and cushy jobs in Washington.

Barack Obama is a ni&&er of CA @ Sep 19, 2008 12:06:35 PM

I stand technically corrected

However, in principle a piece of paper certifying that I own a stock is different than electronic trading and I don't believe stock speculators brought these financial institutions down single handedly.

HillbillyBill of TN @ Sep 19, 2008 07:37:26 AM

Get Back To Basics!!!

This guy must be a politician with his talk about FUNDAMENTALS. The fundamentals are gone, that's the problem. Gone are the cash based investments replaced with credit based gambles. It is one thing to purchase stock in acompany and hold it for a few years and yet another to trade borrowed securities paid by credit card transaction on margin!!! The difference between fundamentals and hogwash are cash and bullstuff!!! Our credit oriented markets are crumbling due to deadbeats failing to pay their bills and investors betting on investments on other people's debt!!! Fundamentals are gone as mortgages are now renamed securities with investors buying them counting upon the rednecks to make their mortgage payments. Those are the fundamentals which politicians are commenting about... total bullstuff!!!

Ray Fisher of NM @ Sep 18, 2008 22:10:19 PM

This economy is horrible.

Thats no myth. We are in a war time economy and don't really realise it b/c the government keeps printing money.Thats not a good thing.

of @ Sep 18, 2008 21:13:14 PM

What McCain might have meant

Despite the fact that I dont believe Sen. McCain has a grasp on basic economic issues or how the capital markets work, I beleive what he was referring to was "naked" short selling. As Ttnewton noted above, shorting stocks is legal. However, naked shorting is the illegal practice of short selling shares that have not been determined to exist. Investopedia defines it further as follows:

Ordinarily, traders must borrow a stock, or determine that it can be borrowed, before they sell it short. But due to various loopholes in the rules and discrepancies between paper and electronic trading systems, naked shorting continues to happen.

Hope that helps.

Pat of MA @ Sep 18, 2008 20:22:18 PM