In an amazing (and as yet unconfirmed) development tonight, the SEC has announced a temporary ban on ALL short selling. In the 100 or so posts on theoildrum in the past 3 years, I usually save my opinions for the conclusion. Tonights news has me a bit outraged, so forgive me if I 'temporarily' diverge from that pattern. If ALL short selling is truly banned, whether it be for a week, a month or a year, the capital markets as we know them will cease to function, which among other things, will cause subtle but serious danger to the future production of energy. (UPDATED at end of post 9/19 06:30 CDT)