Last Friday when the USA dropped 500 or so points I was already...

Last Friday when the USA dropped 500 or so points I was already short close to seven figures worth of stock.

I was in the market on Friday buying back that amount and many others were too.

Short selling helps provide liquidity.

If you think its so easy to make money short selling then open up an account and try it yourself.

In 2008 when the markets really started to tumble was after short selling had been banned.

If I think something is overpriced why cant I short sell it like if I think something is cheap I can buy it.

AT the ned of the day if people think its value they will buy it.
Lets say we took a common conspiracy theory and said a heap of huge instos short BHP, they knock it down to $10 by constant short selling.
If the market conditions were ok and there was no reason why BHP should be $10 every other insto broker and mum and dad would be all over it, it just doesnt happen that way unfortunetly.
Stocks like ABS MFS BNB etc etc were shorted but they were heavily sold down, the reason was the companies themselves had estremely poor fundamentals. They had all borrowed way too much and the banks tightened up credit not allowing thme to keep borrowing/roll over loans etc.
Its not short sellers that bring companies to their knees, its the directors.