Short sellers perform two important functions:
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They quickly set the correct price of an asset when it is unclear what that price is or when the managers of the asset give misleading information about the asset. This provides important information to people wanting to buy the asset vs buying something else.
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The short sellers steal the equity from a failing company before the executives are able to do so. Think how much more money the executives of Enron would have been able to steal if not for short sellers.