Beware the Short-Bashers

Great commentary today on MSN Money by hedge fund manager Bill Fleckenstein: "Beware of Companies that Attack Short Sellers." Fleckenstein observes:

Let me repeat something I've said before: Short-sellers do not mismanage companies. They don't cause them to stuff the channel, build receivables or cook the books generically. Company managements do that. Short-sellers catch them.

The very fact that someone actually has to say that shows how short the public's memories are. And it's not just the public. A few weeks ago -- I blogged on it at the time -- I chatted with a journalist about short-selling. At one point he remarked that short-sellers had damaged companies by driving down their share prices.

I asked him to cite an example. His response: Enron.

Like I said -- memories are short.

(Hat tip: SABEW's Talking Biz News blog.)

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