The Meb Faber Show · Friday, July 17, 2026
Carson Block, founder of Muddy Waters Research, stated that the activist short-selling model is not scalable due to the pace of change. He also shared that short sellers face higher rates of depression and mental illness compared to other investors, a situation he believes is both a cause and effect of the profession.
“The dirty secret of the activist short-selling model is that it's not scalable.”
“We're not as humans going to be able to keep up with the pace of change.”
“And you know, it's actually Jim Chanos, I think that said to me several years ago that there's a higher rate of depression and mental illness among short sellers than among other professional investors.”
“And I think that's both cause and effect of being a short seller.”