> but there's no inherent moral superiority of one side over the other Of course there is. Shorting is immoral, it's legalized gambling, and the shorters are h

> but there's no inherent moral superiority of one side over the other Of course there is. Shorting is immoral, it's legalized gambling, and the shorters are hoping the worst for the economy so they can profit off of other people's misery. Regular stock purchasing (not options mind you) is buying into a company, after researching it and understanding its workings with the hope of gaining value. Another important difference is that regular trading transfers risk from one party to another, the overall risk in the market stays the same. Shorting however, creates risk for the sake of gambling, and exposes at least 3 parties to the stock instead of one. This is dangerous and immoral. It's quite telling that shorting was banned during the 2008 crisis, however, people don't learn and they reallowed it.