The SEC isn’t gonna take anymore of this speculation crap and has prohibited short selling stocks from 799 companies, such as Morgan Stanley (MS) and E*Trade (ETFC). In case you didn’t take notes in econ class, short selling is borrowing a company's shares, selling them, and then keeping the difference once the stock falls. And in case you weren’t taking notes in history class, speculation has led to many a financial crisis, such as that of nineteenth century America when small-time farmers got screwed by speculators and then couldn’t pay back the high interest imposed on them. It really was about time that USC Alum and SEC Chairman Chris Cox gave the middle finger to hedge funds.

According to Forbes:

In its announcement, the SEC said it was acting in concert with the U.K. Financial Services Authority, which announced a similar ban there Thursday. Some British politicians claim that short-selling was partly responsible for HBOS PLC's abrupt takeover by banking rival Lloyds TSB PLC (nyse: LYG - news - people ) on Thursday.

The SEC said it hoped its move would protect the integrity of the securities markets and boost investor confidence. The agency said it wanted a time out on aggressive, "unbridled" short-selling in financial stocks, and said it would consider measures to address short-selling in other publicly traded companies.

"The commission is committed to using every weapon in its arsenal to combat market manipulation that threatens investors and capital markets," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a statement. "The emergency order temporarily banning short-selling of financial stocks will restore equilibrium to markets."

John McCain can go ahead and continue saying that if he were president, he would fire Cox but then again, he has said, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood.” Considering the current economic crisis, the idea of voting for the economically-ignorant McCain doesn’t exactly get a girl reassured.