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A comment on Naked shorting: The curious incident of the shares that didn't exist (2005). Parent comment

Re:Naked shorting: The curious incident of the shares that d... by syockit on Monday February 01, 2021 @06:57AM (#25987882)
Your car example makes for a fun scenario where you lend someone a one-of-a-kind car, and that person sells it to someone else, and you manage to buy it back from that someone else (maybe for a quite high markup). Then when the time comes for the first person to buy the car back to return it to you, you either outright refuse to sell or ask for even higher markup. What will happen then?

Why do we even allow people to sell borrowed things?

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Re:Naked shorting: The curious incident of the shares that d... by Khoth on Monday February 01, 2021 @07:33AM (#25988072)
> Why do we even allow people to sell borrowed things?

Unlike cars, one share in a company is as good as another, and the whole reason you borrow a share is so that you can sell it. It's kind of like how if you borrow money, you're allowed to spend it instead of just keeping it in a pile under your bed.

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