Banning Shorting Achieves Nothing

Those who short shares, bear raiders are almost universally disliked. And for good reason. Whilst all of us involved in the stock market are ultimately motivated by the desire to make money, at least those of us who buy shares are creating a more liquid secondary market allowing companies to raise capital to expand, create jobs etc. And so we serve some purpose. Those who short serve no purpose in that sense. Moreover when a share you own is being whacked by shorters it is easy to start shouting at your screen, “Damn Evil Knievil/Lucian Miers/ A.N. Other Teddy – you are a: insert the sort of words John Terry might use. But that does not mean that shorting should be banned. Au contraire.

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