I agree with your first point but on the second point its not just Mesa in trouble. Part of the reason stated for tough financing was the strength of both United and US Airways. They are both in financial turmoil and without some strength in our codeshares no one will hand over money. These are some of the outside troubles plaguing Mesa that they cant control.
To be truthful its not just Mesa that needs to worry about this. Anyone that codeshares with a Major in trouble needs to worry. Just because your airline might have more cash in the bank doesn't do it any good if your source of income drys up over night. This is a very fluid time for the airlines and in the next year there will be a lot of changes, some good and some bad.

 

Sold my shares at 0.21

 

Absolutely true...there's only one thing really wrong with SKW: UAL

 

Volume may be caused by short sellers. Dont assume it is faith in the company. Short Sellers can cause the stock to drop 50% in a day if they want.

 

It's stupid to have a short position on a stock that has gone up in value 40-50% some days. Sure it has come back down an equal measure other days but you are gambling
1) On the day that you have to deliver the shares the value didn't go up
2) Good news causes the price to spike, either temporarily or permanently.

What if I decided to short 100,000 shares of Mesa today. At an average price of 20 cents thats 20 grand. I borrow 100k of Mesa stock from someone. I have 3 days to deliver the 100,000 shares at a price of 20 cents. If my guess is right and the price drops to 10 cents then I would get 10,000$, minus any margin fees or comissions. If they declare BK and the stock drops to zero then I made the entire sum of 20 grand.

HOWEVER

If I am wrong there is NO LIMIT to how much money I can lose. If the price doubles I have to buy 100,000 shares at 40 cents -- I lose 20,000$. If there is a news flash that Mesa picked up new flying and the price goes to a dollar, which isn't an unreasonable price point for it then I lose _$80,000_.

This is why I never understood short sales. With most things the bigger the risk the bigger the reward, but with this the bigger the risk the smaller the reward. At least if you just buy Mesa stock the only thing you'll potentially lose is the money you put in -- if a short sale goes bad for you you'll lose all that and then more.

Right now Mesa has about a 1.5% short interest which is half of what Delta's percentage is, which shows you that people, smart people, don't short such voliatile stocks.