Going After Short-Sellers Again

I've never shorted a stock in my life. I've got nothing against short-sellers. It's just not my game.

But I've always been disgusted by politicians making villains of short-sellers. Usually the short-sellers are taking advantage of conditions the politicians and their cronies were instrumental in creating in the first place.

I don't know how much that is the case in Italy. And I don't know if Italy is the next Greece or not.

Yet when I see headlines like "Italy Moves to Rein in Short-Selling Amid Market Jitters," it's not encouraging. And does anyone think curbing short-selling makes a difference in the longer run?

Comments

[Zach]

I don't see the big deal since there is still one buy and sell like with all trades. They often warn longs of danger too. I remember considering lphi. The first warning that it wasn't such a great deal was the number of shorts. Investigation showed the original hint to be right. They're far more often symptomatic of trouble than trouble themselves.

[John]

@Zach: Everything you say is true. I just note that I've rarely, if ever, heard politicos yell about shorts when times are good.

[Bonfire of the Idiocies]

Former GE chairmain Jack Welch's definition of a politician: "They exist to blame everybody else when things go wrong." Short-sellers are just a target of opportunity for these clowns.

[Tom Hudson]

I think shorts have gotten a bad reputation largely due to the anonymous names to post on stock message boards predicting doom and gloom for a stock, all based on dubious information. I have nothing against someone that shorts stocks without using such tactics.