Flack Sez:
"you borrow the stock from someone who thinks you're crazy,
because they think it's going to go UP."
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that "someone" your broker who has no choice but to lend you the stock if you are "shorter qualified"?
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"This is the "game" you and I have talked about many times...even though you don't agree that it is a game."
Yep,I am one of those in the extreme minority who believes the stock market is not a game. You are very correct on that point. The stock market should be an investment tool, not a roulette table. There is a difference.
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"While shorting is an available option to anyone,
it's the black sheep of the market... and that's the
way the institutions want to keep it."
I disagree with you here. I think shorting is encouraged by the "rules makers, market makers, whatever" because it increases liquidity. Liquidity means more money for them.
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"They want more and more of our money in the market
so they can do their "game"."
Right, for the reasons I stated above.
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"It's our job to learn all the rules of the game,
which includes shorting. That doesn't mean that we HAVE TO short. It simply means that we better understand the principle and how the institutions manipulate the market."
I agree with this AS LONG AS we don't let the other guy determine our moral values. Believe it or not, there IS a moral element in the stock market, as there is in all of life. I think it is fundamentally immoral to try to get what belongs to someone else. Shorting does this just like the roulette table does. But when you INVEST in a company's future, you are trying to create NEW WEALTH that does not already belong to someone else.
At least, this is my naive opinion about how things ought to be. I know things are not this way, and probably never will be.
Best,
p40warhawk |
