Beg to differ. Pennies get little help in this area as I'm sure you know. The powers that be, care little for the little companies. It's let the strong survive, and this is why the leaches that 'naked short' feed here.
As for the issue of 'healthy for the market' there are certain times where it is obviously true. You can say it's not if you like, but in fact is some cases it is. Such as this afternoon I bought shares when there may not have been enough willing to sell at my bid. So the MM's can sell me short shares to keep the market fluid. Today there were shares to trade, but sometimes there aren't. This is one time when shorting is good. Onother would be in the case where a stock is trading at highs above any reasonable level, on hype alone. Shorting provides balast and can bring reality back to the market.
Everyone would like to tailor the process to fit their needs, but what we have is what we get. The market has done quite well for some time now, and the idea of just eliminating shorting of any kind would not be wise, and will not happen, in my opinion.
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