RE:Shorts having to pay the dividendAnd yet we are all bemused by the fact everyone is making more money than you are with no investment and no cajones to actually short. What a Tylerred. The best argument for eliminating the dividend is the fact nobody seems to care whether they pay it or not. Conservative investors that buy stocks for a dividend yield, primarily or only for the yield, are gone anyway by now out of concern it will soon be cut. So wtf, may as well. The counter argument would be more or less the same. Why bother. Nobody will jump in and start buying after the divy is cut. Be real. I sure didn't buy it for the yield. I bought it because the value of the assets in the ground greatly exceeds the enterprise value of the stock and debt. So here we patiently wait it out.