July 19, 2008
Shorting public traded companies is part of the traditional process.. however, when additional shares are "created" for the purpose of shorting, it lends itself to the destruction of publicly traded companies. If there exists more shares for "sale"(created shares), then the public cos' stock price of course will fall, regardless the fundamentals. When these public companies need more money for expansion, their stock price cannot support such expansion because of the shorting via "created" shares. It seems to me that the use of created shares for the purpose of shorting is a prescription for destruction of the financial markets.. it surprises me that it has even been tolerated by regulating agencies. It is time to balance the purported purpose of financial markets against those who seek immediate trading profits--if this isn't done, then long term "investment" will become nothing but a quick turn of a roulette wheel and lasting about as long as the wheel spins.