May 8, 2009
Selling any share of stock under the guise that the seller is the owner and delivery is assured and immediate just like the payment when in fact the share being sold actually belongs to someone else both before and after the sale and may or may not ever be delivered. At an absolute minimum, morally and ethically, if any shares are to be sold short they should be identified as such to the targeted buyers who may THEN knowingly engage in a trade which is actually a promise to deliver to someone who promises to pay WHEN DELIVERED. We then have an equation i.e. what is on one side of the = sign is equal to what is on the other side, that is the only fair, honest and open trade which the market purports to ensure.
AND---NO EXCEPTIONS FOR ANYONE FOR ANY PURPOSE--LIQUIDITY, PRICE DISCOVERY, REAL SUPPLY AND DEMAND ETC