It appears almost certain that Tuesday, the 13^th of December may not be a particularly lucky day for hedge funds or wannabe investors, as the Securities and Exchange Commission expects to propose measures that would make it harder to invest in the industry. “We’re going to make it very clear that hedge funds are risky investments that are not for mom and pop by fending it off with higher standards to accrediting investors,” SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a Bloomberg News interview. Raising the investment requirements has taken on a new urgency following the meltdown of Amaranth Advisors. However, Cox’s concern for mom and pop apparently isn’t what’s driving lawmakers to push for changes now; it’s the concern that pension funds that invest them could get caught with their assets down – a claim recently disputed as being a non-issue since hedge fund allocations by pension plans are relatively small and spread among many funds. The commission is also planning to introduce at the meeting next month a new hedge fund anti-fraud rule, but at this point there have been no details of what that may include.