Could the 'Buy, Sell and Hold' Be Outlawed?

Another idea would require all Wall Street firms to provide their brokerage customers with free access to analyst reports prepared by so-called independent research firms -- a firm like Sanford Bernstein, which doesn't do any investment banking.

Others are recommending the SEC enact a new regulation that would treat any communications between investment bankers and stock analysts as akin to illegal insider stock trading. Sources say the only way to ensure that investment bankers don't interfere with the work done by stock analysts is to enact stiff penalties for doing so.

And finally, sources say New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is considering hiring a squad of attorneys to serve as Wall Street enforcement czars to make sure securities firms are complying with whatever new regulatory framework is enacted. One of things they might supervise is Spitzer's $100 million settlement with Merrill, which was supposed to address conflicts of interest in that firm's analyst research.