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To: golfnut777 who wrote (17755)	9/22/2001 12:11:46 AM
From: Blue On Black	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

Just a question...not disputing your opinion at all.... I don't have exact figures but I think that I heard 1.5 TRILLION in stockholder equity disappeared this week. Would it have been better for that to disappear into thin air or to go somewhere where it can fuel a recovery? If shorting (selling before a buy) is bad, is it that much different from 'just' selling? Would both be a way to preserve capital? Shorts will have to buy....what about the 'just' sellers? Merely curious, lee

To: golfnut777 who wrote (17755)	9/22/2001 7:22:54 AM
From: ChrisJP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

Hi golfnut777 and others: Please end this "discussion/debate" regarding shorting. It is nonsense. Wide spread selling is causing the markets to drop, not shorting. The selling is a result of people buying too much stock at prices that were way too high. Live and learn. Personally, I'm thrilled that there is shorting -- you know why ? Cuz I would like to go long just before they all decide to cover !!! The more they short --- the more spectacular the January short covering rally will be !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chris

To: golfnut777 who wrote (17755)	9/22/2001 11:42:52 AM
From: yard_man	Respond to of 208838

yes, complete and utter nonsense, promulgated by the same thieves that told you to "buy stocks" for your country on Monday. I was short way before the tragedy. I still think stocks are overpriced by and large and don't discount the unwinding of enormous amount of debt overhang -- this is the result of decisions made in the 90's -- has very little to do with this event, which was merely a trigger that accelerated the process. If short-selling were stopped across the board the drop would be accelerated -- there would be no smooth decline. There would be days without any bids. Please educate yourself. Do you know what the downtick rule is? I can't short most stocks unless they have an uptick. The reason stocks are falling has to do with what happened in the late 90's. You focus on where stocks are going -- you should look at where they have been. PEs have been higher than at any point in history -- there was no way it could continue. Also -- stocks are claims of the capital stock of companies, right? Was capital stock really growing anywhere close to the rate at the stocks themselves or were the claims just being inflated? You want a villain? Look no further than the Fed and Treasury -- people were entertained by the meteoric rise and didn't care how they got it or whether or not it could be monetized -- turned into "real goods." The fact is it never could because real economic wealth had simply not grown that much. It was a fantasy from start to finish. Unfortunately it isn't finished. When the market takes off again -- it will be shorts unwinding. As much as you want to believe that such a practice is evil -- it simply doesn't do what you think -- it doesn't move stocks down. Think about it for more than two seconds -- if someone shorts -- it in effect creates additional scarcity that would not otherwise exists and portends future buying pressure. To inflict damage and then profit from it certainly is evil -- but to say that I, being short, have participated in that is simply not true. If you've lost money as the bubble has burst -- give some thought to being politically active in order to foster "honest" money in this country. To be able to inflate the supply without limit and without the public's control -- the Fed is simply an agent that transfers real economic wealth, i.e. control of goods and services, from those who work hard to those who do not -- all for the purpose of political gain. Would the Clinton's still have any power if the corrective process had begun earlier instead of all the printing ... the American people were in some ways bought off and a crook was kept in the White. I am so glad that Gore is not in there now.