True yet the light of day will never be revealed on the *real* number of outstanding shorts that can be verified based on GAAP accounting principles. Too many exotic financial vehicles exist and are expressly designed to hide the true extent of shorts that exist in the system. These vehicles include offshore accounts that are outright not subject to short reporting regulations, in-house juggling of outstanding shorts between accounts and houses, set up for the express purpose of hiding chronic persistent unsatisfied deficit balances, not to mention the worst offenders of all - the regulatory authorities that drink champagne from from the bankers' & HFs' boots ... and piss it out on the rest of us. On a related note good for Harper making a stand against the need for further financial regulation in Canada. It's a humble beginning but I do hold out he's making a stand for common sense in that he recognizes the first priority must be to enforce the laws we already have on hand & tie up any existing loose ends before adding to the regulatory burden.