It is not a free ride for those that short. They must have collateral to cover their short and then some. When a stock becomes hard to borrow or locate the costs rise. Some individuals with large long positions in stocks that are short lend out their shares to their brokerage firms and are compensated.
According to a Fidelity client he was recently paid up to 42% interest per day on a stock he had a large long position in that had a huge short. Recently he posted that the interest rate had been steadily dropping and was now in the single digits. Of course if your shares are in a margin account your brokerage firm is likely lending them out and not paying you a penny but they are getting paid for them. Check your accounts and if you are not using margin and I hope you are not, make sure they are marked as being a cash account. If all longs did this it would put even more pressure on the shorts. Go PTOI!!!