Anyway, back to the topic. The reason for the short tick rule being abolished was because it 'biased' stocks to the upside. It was removed to protect the public from 'manipulation of stocks'. If stocks trade off of 'future' earnings, 3-6 months out, then they are not too dissimiliar from futures contracts. When a futures contract opens up, noone is long it. You may have farmers that 'hedge', but they do not own the contract they are shorting. If stocks go down, it is because there are fewer buyers than sellers, period.
Stocks went down in Q4 '08 because of the dismal outlook for the future. NOT because some people shorted them. Wasn't it better that the general public bought stocks cheaper in Q4, now that we see the earnings from then coming out and the projections for Q1, Q2? Stocks adjusted accordingly, correctly at the time. If shorts helped take them to the appropriate level, how can one argue that this is counter-productive?
Reinstituting the plus tick, nearly impossible to do with .01 increments and more than 1 market (ecn's), is a flawed theory. Any arguments of self-fullfilling prophesies if stocks go down are also ludicrous. People aren't buying Blackberry's because the market is lower, or because the economy sucks? The economy sucks because stocks are lower, no, stocks are lower because the economy sucks . . .