I hesitate to comment on the world of international finance, because I don't know much about it. For instance, when I heard about all the trouble being caused by short sellers, I immediately phoned the London Stock Exchange and suggested they only let tall people onto the trading floor. A nice man in the public affairs department told me they don't really have a trading floor anymore and that it's all done on computers. But then that's the problem, isn't it? You can't stop short people using computers. And let's face it, the little guys have always got something to prove, haven't they? No wonder they overreach themselves.
I later learned what short selling actually was. My goodness! Luckily, there were plenty of folk on the internet to explain that it was alright really and that short sellers only target companies that ordinary shareholders have already lost confidence in. Phew!
Only there's something that still bothers me... I'm sure I'm just being silly, but I'd always thought that what investors lose confidence in isn't so much the company as the company shareprice. So, if there's a bunch of short sellers around who might try to drive down the price a lot further and faster than it would have gone otherwise, then other investors might anticipate this... with obvious consequences.
In otherwords the relationship between the wider market and the short sellers is circular, not linear. But, as I say, this isn't really my area. Best leave things to the experts. I'm sure they know what they're doing.
