Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- A six-foot stuffed grizzly bear guards the entrance to the offices of Fleckenstein Capital Inc., located on a quiet, leafy street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. The bear sends a clear message: The man inside, Bill Fleckenstein, founder and president of the firm, is a short seller and proud of it.
Fleckenstein, 55, has emerged as one of the most-outspoken defenders of what has been depicted by everyone from the chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley to the Archbishop of Canterbury as a renegade class of investors. Since world markets began their most serious plunge in decades in July, 17 countries have banned or restricted short selling, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Commentators around the world have labeled short sellers as hyenas, jackals, vermin and vultures.
Fleckenstein says that investors who bet that stocks will decline, as short sellers do, are simply bears. And he says they are not to blame for the market meltdown. ``Short sellers didn't lower the fed funds rate or tell people to take out mortgages when they shouldn't have,'' he says. ``Now we are the bad guys, the ones wearing black hats.''
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