I've always thought "shorting" was very weird and should be discouraged. There's something perverse about raking in profits when a business goes under. Potential for all kinds of mischief, like promising the CEO a share of the take if s/he runs the biz into the ground... but when a business goes under, there are casualties. Customers with abandoned product and no warranty. Staff who just lost their jobs. "Collateral damage" I guess, if you're a hedge fund vulture?

I think the reddit group did just send a message, kind of a Yes Men message but with a real sting of financial loss in its tail. It's kind of fun (in a way) to watch the same establishment that bailed out Goldman Sachs and Lehman Bros without a murmur, clutching its pearls over a flashmob of petty proletarians... and calling them "lazy and greedy"!! One law for the rich, I guess...