[j_tb]

> As a holder of shares in a company for retirement, why would I want to in any way enable short sellers to artificially drive the price of those shares into the ground, or even bankrupt the company?

So you can buy more shares on sale, clearly.

[pkphilip]

That would be true IF you are the one who gets the additional shares. But that is not how it always happens

[gruez]

If the price is depressed, everyone benefits from it. If you can't benefit from it (eg. the price is depressed, the short seller sold it to some hedge fund, and the price returned to normal) then there's no impact. Which one is it?

[pkphilip]

You completely miss the fact that the company whose shares are being depressed will suffer problems raising capital if their stock prices drop

[gruez]

>You completely miss the fact [...]

Pay attention to the thread. While that might be a valid argument, it's not what's being discussed in this comment chain.

That said, the "problems raising capital" argument has been argued enough elsewhere in this thread that I won't bother arguing it further.