http://www.nypost.com/business/61964.htm


A new book by ace investigative reporter Gary Weiss, a longtime BusinessWeek
staffer, is guaranteed to be a front-runner for most controversial business
book of 2006, according to The Post's Roddy Boyd. The book, "Wall Street
Versus America," won't hit the stands until early April, but his arguments -
gleaned from two decades worth of reporting on Wall Street - are sure to
provoke outrage in many sectors.

The most provocative argument in Weiss' book is that naked shorting - or
short-selling a company's stock without being able to borrow it first, per
long standing rules - is not only a good idea, but a necessary one.

Weiss argues that the indifference of regulators toward small-cap stocks has
promoted a lawless Wild West dominated by stock promoters and sleazy
underwriters. The only remedy against such "bacteria" is to short these
stocks mercilessly.

This is guaranteed to send Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and the other
disciples of his "stop naked short-selling crusade" - Weiss dismisses the
lot of them as the "Baloney Brigade" - into further spasms.

The book is witty, readable and hunts big prey: Weiss spends a chapter
filleting Bear Stearns for its sins in some preposterous municipal
securities transactions. His eyeglass spares no one, and financial reporters
come in for special mention for their sins of omission, as they focus on the
machinations in the Morgan Stanley executive suite while ordinary investors
are robbed blind by scams that continue to this day.