"Rather than seizing an opportunity to accuse me of lying or being a liar * why don't you argue why the propositions contained in them are incorrect?
That is, are you saying that shorting is not used a means to acquire a stock cheaply?"
I am saying - and listen very carefully, because I have said this before - that I don't believe it.
And the reason I don't believe it is because I see no evidence of it.
"Yes, we all understand that shorting involves lending out the stock. And we also know that naked shorting exists."
Yes to the first part ("We all understand that shorting involves the lending out of stock".)
But in terms of the second part, please don't include me in your "we" ("we also know that naked shorting exists"), for - again- I know nothing of the sort; quite the opposite, in fact: I don't believe that it does.
"But that's not the same as what I am talking about here. What I am talking about is a series of legal devices, which hide the ultimate beneficial holder of the stock and make it very difficult to work out who is actually behind a transaction and who is not. An accumulator might be at work, but they can conduct the activity without being detected.
Are you saying no such problem exists? Because I say it does."
Bully for you.
But - again - I happen to think no such problem exists.
And the reason I say that is because I have seen no evidence of it.
I think the integrity of the functioning of the equity market is just fine.
Besides, I don't care.
This stuff matters not one iota to me, and I'll wager it doesn't matter to 95% of investors.
Of all the many things I am obliged think about when it comes to investing in listed companies, of all the many and varied and wonderful things to contemplate, there are some that never enter my mind.... things like short-selling, legal devices (whatever they might be), who is or is not a beneficial owner of any given stock, who is hiding the nature of their shareholdings, which "accumulators might be at work", actions of hedge funds, traders, who is possibly conducting undetected activity, who is buying who is selling, and what their motives are for doing whatever they might be doing... none of those things are ever things I think about.
And why would I?
I can't prove or disprove any of them.
And even if I could, what would I do with the information?
If my recollection is different to yours, that does not make me a liar.
But what you have done - on mnay occasions - is kept repeating the line that I agreed/admitted/acknowledged that short selling is a way to accumulate shares.
And on many occasions I've had to set the record straight.
But that doesn't stop you from repeating it anyway.
So when you have been shown that something you say is an untruth, and you keep saying it anyway, what are you, other than an outright liar?
So this time, try to make sure your recollection is registered as the same as what I am saying to you, and not something you want to believe for purposes of claiming a victory, i.e., stop saying things that have been pointed out to you are not the truth and you will be ceased being labelled a liar.
Pretty simple.
"Rather than conduct a civilised discussion, it seems that you'd rather go on the personal attack."
From the Queen of Online Humility, Civility and General Goodwill to Fellow Posters.
(Rich, indeed.)
I have corrected you time and time again about your misrepresenting me as saying that shorting can assist with accumulation. Yet you persist with that lie.
And you've got the gall to address me in terms of an exhortation to being civil?
"IMO activities that occur in the stock market are the wild west in terms of regulation. We haven't begun to really properly control what is taking place. It's not surprising that many brokers and banks resist regulation. These days a lot of the wild west stuff is happening with hedge funds, but it's not all, not by a long shot."
I find it bizarre that - while these things so intensely occupy your thinking - I do not for one second think that this is how things work in the stock market.
Why does one person believe so strongly that the game is so badly rigged, and yet another gives it not so much as a passing thought?
For years you have been blaming all and sundry for the stock price woes; you have been speculating, assuming, accusing, complaining, hypothesising and dreaming up all sorts of devious practices are conspiring against the Mesoblast share price.
But for what?
What have you gained from it?
Imagine if you harnessed all that energy and effort and applied it to doing something good, something constructive... imagine what could have been.
Just invest with a business owner mindset. Focus exclusively on the business.
If you do that properly, the share price will take care of itself.
You keep telling others to focus on the company and the science, but yet you are so incredibly preoccupied with the share price and how it is being manipulated and influenced by invisible dark forces.
(20min delay)