"Unethical" was tongue-in-cheek. I whole-heartedly agree with you. Short-sellers are necessary. Speculation is amoral. Trading is war. If one does not want to get shot, then one should not go to war, period.

It's soooo amusing to see the big banks who professed "free markets" and "deregulation" now advocating that short-selling is evil. It's the "heads I win, tails you lose" kind of thing. "Free markets" are only good just as long as they're winning...

On a related note, I'm kicking myself for not holding on to my HBC puts I bought yesterday. Guess I was feeling a little too ethical.