so I personally treat all my entrepreneurial endeavors the same way as I treat shares in my brokerage account.
It doesn't make a difference to me if I bought shares from someone for $36/share or if I created shares on a piece of paper for $0.00/share
If someone else buys those $0.00 shares for $36/share from me, and then those shares are worth much closer to $0.00 again, I'll make an offer and consider doing it again. Investments where you have an outsized influence on the outcome are tightly regulated but great opportunities to watch out for.
In this case, SPACs were always set up to flood the market with shares no matter what the underlying financials of the target company were like. Rosy? Still flooded with shares. Paltry? same result.
If people buy that anyway I can't consider that evil. The SEC mandated disclosures. Although in 2020 SPACs were allowed to say forward looking statements of potential target companies, and the SEC has clamped down on that because they have a paternal view that investors - the individual humans - cannot discern and are gullible, swayed by cults of personality. Personally, I think its a matter for investors, many SPAC deals did not close because investors used their discretion to not approve the movement of money into the target company and withdrew. Everyone has agency.
The problem was never evil short sellers and always evil naked short sellers. Two very different things. The latter being highly illegal and policed everywhere except in the US (market maker exemptions).
