short selling

medium term the best thing would be for Europe to take another leg down so that Italy & Spain are forced to give up some sovereign powers on fiscal spending.

Until Germany believes that they will have some say/ power over how Italy & Spain spend their credit card projects like this will not be able to get funding. After German and U.S. elections I believe they will have some sort of a framework with a single banking regulator in Europe.

If this happens Europe will have the biggest productivity gains in its history over the next 5 years, and hence China will need resources (their biggest export market).

The worse Europe gets the more likely that at some stage over the next 8 months there will be a landmark decision about European fiscal integration and one of the sharpest rallies in mining stocks seen, given that so many retail investors would have capitulated by then, short sellers may be hammered by poor liquidity.... it may be the best thing for long term holders that management only lock in the funding they need at this point in time at these huge costs/ giving away the farm... in the meantime we are likely to have more pain.