Bearish

Suddenly, I am feeling really bearish.

The German ban on all kinds of legitimate market transactions and the SEC's proposed individual stock circuit-breakers seem irrational and desperate.

We know that these types of market interventions don't work - like the SEC's short selling ban in 2008 which made things worse.

So why do them? I am sitting at the poker table saying: what do they know?

They must be worried about the sovereign debt crises. They must feel like their back is to the wall, like they have no other choice but to tamper with and disable the markets. If your status quo outcome is guaranteed to be bad, you'll try anything no matter how unlikely to work.