"So the only directions that shares should go in the market is...

"So the only directions that shares should go in the market is up, is that even when their profits go down or when those companies have useless assets on their books at overpriced valuations."

The assumption that without short selling shares can only go up is outright ridiculous. Share holders CAN take profits too and the sp will go down accordingly.

I thought smart shorters only start shorting at perceived resistance i.e. where they believe the sp is encountering difficulty in continue rising. And they love to see the sp fall as low as possible. The lower the sp fall the more profit they make. In other words shorters DON'T help sp 'returns to a value that is more representative of its future earnings'. They only take advantage when sp stops rising and if the companies they shorted go six feet under they'll laugh all the way to the bank. Shorters don't help anybody.

Those who say that shorters help find companies' true values might as well say termites help builders build better houses.