Random thing.

Shorting stock is not without value. On a social level, it effectively monetizes the willingness to say the Emperor has no clothes. That is, it is a way to make money by sniffing out bullshit and dumbassery. Which there is a lot of.

BUT, that definitely does not mean that every short seller is a champion of justice. Nor does it mean there aren't unethical ways to go about it (like, for example, shorting more shares than are actually at large), but in and of itself, it's no better or worse than the rest.

But if there were *not* a way to make money on the downside, then all of the economic pressure would just be to push things up, and that's got...problems.

Now, if the argument is "The stock market is bullshit, and as part of that, shorting stocks is bullshit", that's kind of hard to argue against. But if you accept the stock market, it's got a genuine role.

(Though is IS worth noting that, historically, it's not a very accessible role. Buying stock has democratized some over time, but shorting requires more hoops, and I'd be hard pressed to say it's *fair*, but that's a different problem)

The number and variety of financial tools and instruments that we peons simply do not have access to is really rather daunting. At least a part of the Gamestop shock is that some folks managed to prick the behemoth with the tools the beast thought were blunted.