If I Had to Listen to Congress Every Day I'd Short Treasuries Too
Repeat after me: There is nothing wrong, immoral, evil, or even unsavory about short-selling. No one gets mad at you for selling an over-valued security which you actually own, so there should be no ethical difference in selling an over-valued security you don't actually own. Somehow people who are traditionally long in the market (e.g. corporate executives) have convinced the world that short-sellers should be vilified. I don't understand it. If you love the stock and short-sellers drive it down, you should treat it as a gift that the stock you love can now be bought more cheaply.
So I thought this was particularly awesome:
On Oct. 8 and 9, 2008"”as the Federal Reserve was bailing out American International Group Inc."”an account Sen. Isakson held invested more than $30,000 in ProShares UltraShort 7-10 Year Treasury and UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury, the records show. These are "leveraged short" funds, designed to gain $2 for each $1 drop in the daily value of U.S. Treasury bonds.
Isakson claims he was not actively managing the account, a claim that is probably true given the ethics rules in Congress (not that anyone follows those). My response in his place would have been, "F*cking-A right I was shorting government bonds. Haven't you been paying attention over the last 12 months?"
Unfortunately, Isakson falls out of my hero category into my "hypocritical goat" category for this:
In February, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R., Ga.) argued on the Senate floor that "we don't need those speculating in the marketplace to take unfair advantage of the values of equities that are owned by Americans all over this country for the sake of making a buck on a short sale."
Again this unaccountable bias that somehow people who are long are morally superior, and somehow more entitled, than people who are short.
