 Psychiatry Quiz Shock "Treatment" Page
How can I help myself? |
Is there a test for "ADD"? Is there a test for "Schizophrenia"? Does shock "treatment" still exist?
Psychiatry NEWS
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Visitor Comments Dr. Says no "ADD" Test
If not psychiatry, then what? |
A "free market" means that if there is a willing buyer, and a willing seller, a trade can occur. Each side feels that they are ending up better off than they were before.
Information is the most valuable commodity. When any commodity is in short supply, entrepreneurs will search for a way to provide that scarce item in return for a profit. Where information is lacking, entreprenuers will see that the information is spread as widely as possible. Spies have made a living for years selling information.
There are two choices. It is either possible or it is not possible to control trading in inside information. My claim here is that while it is illegal, it is not controllable, and therefore not enforceable. A stock tip spreads by word of mouth, rumor to rumor, until it reaches a particular fellow who buys the stock. Finding the source is like figuring out which CIA operative killed Kennedy. Even a small amount of information is very useful, and it takes very little effort to deliver that information. If I sit outside a factory wharehouse and count the shipments leaving the big bay doors, I now have information that was not made available to the all the public at the same time. If I now know that sales are up 50% this quarter, I have information that could put an executive of that company in jail, if he had told me.
On the other hand, if you allow "insider trading," the information can be freely distributed as soon as it is discovered. Newsletters of stock tips can be distributed to whomever is willing to pay for them. It seems silly to think this information won't get out, when Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds can attest to the fact that they've never been able to keep a secret out of the papers. If people want to know, the details will come out.
This benefits the "average" stock investor because now he has a chance to buy the newsletter of hot tips, instead of sneaky insiders being the only ones to have the info.
It is naive to think that a money making activity will stop because it is illegal. When trade becomes illegal, it means you end up with a lot of money if you don't get caught.
