[eru]

> I expected something along the lines of, "no shorting allowed", [...]

That would at least be an attempt. Though to be honest, (other people doing the) shorting is actually very good for the long term shareholder.

> The problem with short term thinking isn't from companies or company leadership, they are reacting to the natural short term fluctuations in their value because of the short term thinking of investors.

It's not that investors are short-termist. Far from it. See eg how shareholders react to Amazon or Tesla.

The problem is the principle-agent conflict: shareholders in general have a very hard time monitoring management. It is neigh impossible to tell a manager with a grand vision that will pay off in 20 years from a manager who burns capital on harebrained schemes for 20 years. Especially impossible to tell before those 20 years are up.

That's why investors are so keen on early and hard to fake signals. Returning cold hard cash to investors is one of those signals.