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The Cato Institute’s David Boaz and Reason Magazine’s Nick Gillespie discuss the benefits of child labor, insider trading and organ sales.
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Here to explain these counter intuitive but generally really smart libertarian ideas.
Our nick Gillespie from reason magazine and David -- of the Cato Institute.
So what it's time guys I mean child labor people years say gonna defend child labor that's evil.
Look nobody is going to be.
Using child labor in the United States in a rich country -- day just doesn't happen except running lemonade stands which are being shut down all over the country there's like a reign of terror against lemonade stands.
But in terms of factories we don't do that anymore because we're rich now we want our kids to can see the child labor is wrong when we talk about child Labor Day we're really talking about very poor countries we're talking about the Third World.
And if we stayed there that the United States should abolish child labor in very poor countries then what will happen and what -- happen to these children.
They're not going to suddenly go to Harvard they are not going to suddenly go to the country day school.
Their parents will starve if they don't all work as a whole plainly doesn't work so they may be -- selling their bodies on the street that doesn't seem like an improvement.
-- working in a T shirt factory and in fact where child labor was suddenly band of these countries prostitution went up.
To help move well I mean this is that you know it's not a question of the kids are dying to work and if they can work at a factory -- become prostitutes.
It's that the countries and the people and the families and kids need the money they don't have access money everybody is work.
Next price -- several states have laws against -- attorney general Mississippi said this is just.
People taking advantage of people in need price gouging say on.
High prices for some thing after Hurricane Katrina water prices went up price of a generator went through if if I'm in.
The neighborhood of hurricane critique Katrina.
What I want is water and ice and generators.
Being plentiful being in supply there.
And if you're in Kentucky and you've got a generator you've got ten generators in your store.
Are you gonna get us actually really happen -- some are you gonna get up at 4 AM and drive all night drive all day to get to Louisiana to sell these generators.
If you can only sell them for the same price you could -- and foreign Kentucky.
Noted gonna go down there because demand is higher need is higher and you can sell them for more and the -- -- -- -- triple the price even if it's triple the price because -- -- get triple the generators you get people to work hard to bring these things there.
And it is precisely the higher prices that will number one cause people to want to make that long drive and get those things where they're needed right now.
And number who.
Will cause people to sell them to people who have the motion made as opposed to just giving them to your daughter because after all if it's all the same price wanna give -- your daughter.
Or to a politically connected.
Mayor it's also true I mean in the recent heat wave you know air conditioners sold out everywhere if that if sellers could raise the price of those.
Then the people -- really one of them would be able to get them.
And it's important to recognize that -- -- retailers are not in the business of screwing over people today for a couple extra -- In order to destroy their customer based on the future so there's a lot of mitigating factors involved.
Ticket scalping.
People describe them as these sleazy guys who -- you and also.
They're not the musicians they're not the football team why should they get the money well -- you know I'd like to think of ticket scalpers as the guys who stand in line so that I don't have to anymore if you're old enough to remember pre Ticketmaster pre -- -- trauma America.
You often times waited to listen to a radio show where -- -- have -- tickets are finally going on -- for this concert.
And then you would run out there and trying get their before they roll soul.
What ticket scalpers to simply is allow more people to see a show without having to run out in the middle of the nighter in the middle of the -- whenever tickets were actually go on sale.
Selling a body part selling -- know org.
Seems.
Wrong.
It also seems wrong to have people dying because they can't get a kidney.
And so sometimes you have to wait these things is it better off to have people.
Prohibited from doing something that does seem kind of grotesque.
Or is it better to have people not dying because they need -- kidney and let me just break that that we have to kidneys we only need one some.
40000.
Americans are on the waiting list now hoping for a new kidney.
And they're not allowed to pay for -- That's right and -- you know weeks we do sell hair we sell sperm we sell eggs these days to worry selling lots of our.
Bodily -- I hear these -- -- -- poor people who just to make a thousand dollars and some Third World country they have them scar they show.
They way Stetson and they're only did they.
I'd I'd never you know they're not -- a kidney there up a thousand bucks or whatever it is -- productivity well yeah but they only need one right at least that's what we're hoping mostly.
But you know the only person now in terms of like organ transplants systems the only person in that exchange who doesn't get compensated is the donor -- doctor makes money the patient gets a benefit the hospital covers all of its cost.
There is a chronic shortage of things like kidneys out -- the best way to grow the supply of that and as David was talk about.
To allow more people to live is to allow a market to price those were against her right.
Insider trading we lock people up who get that information first and the argument is that makes stock trading warfare.
Well what really -- stock trading more fair is having all the information that is known about the value of the company in the value of the stock.
Reflected in the price of the stock because we all wanna buy stocks.
At a fair value.
All the information goes into making up that fair value -- you get the information first house that somebody always gets information first I mean there's really no way around that what's best for me.
Is to have fairly priced stocks everywhere now.
Companies may have a reason not to want employees to release this information.
And it might be good reasons to protect trade secrets and it might be bad reasons to protect corruption and skull -- -- And the fact that Enron had no actual business.
But was just riding on stories.
Companies can create contractual relations with their employees that prohibit them from trading on certain kinds of information.
And -- investors can decide whether companies are more valuable -- they have these kinds of restrictions on trading.
That's the sort of decision investors make all the time in the marketplace.
It's the real fear of insider trading is that if people believe it to be -- but they won't invest because full feel like they're only being used -- -- Over the long -- all of the empirical studies of insider trading -- the effects of that show that it essentially has little to no effect on investor confidence.
And what you need to balance any fears of insider trading and about or the regulations that would be put in place to prevent and it just gets into a morass very quickly.
Well right now we spent a lot of money chasing these people down and locking up a few.
Like Martha Stewart.
She was not found guilty or she was not charged with insider trading by the way she was charged with obstructing justice for for Clinton essentially for proclaiming her innocence to the press.
A one man who was arrested.
Was arrested for printing his own currency.
And He -- his -- is featured here's the guy.
He made these -- some of those featured Ron Paul's face they were called liberty dollars.
And He was told we were told I'm told they are illegal because.
They would compete with United States currency and therefore He must -- -- Although all governments among the very first things that they do is they control the currency supply and they try to get rid of competing money.
In places like the Soviet Union and shoes that you might be allowed to peddle my you know what I you -- -- I don't know I have would be a you know it's it's not Ron -- on the going on they the dollar bill there.
But governments always try to control -- restrict currency because it gives them a huge amount of power in places like the Soviet Union in Cuba you can be put to death for counterfeiting money.
This -- was in counterfeiting money He was making silver coins and selling them for what people thought was a fair price He shouldn't be in jail for that but you can understand.
Why governments want to control currency supplies.
If I make a bracelet out of -- that's perfectly -- and -- -- trade you the bracelet for.
You giving a speech that's perfectly legal.
It's only if I turn the silver into something that looks like a coal and and I give you that they and they say I'm competing with the government's currency will -- strip.
The government has produced a currency that has lost 95% of its value since Federal Reserve took it out over.
I would think may be a one ounce silver -- from a reliable businessman would be worth more.
And we are allowed to trade gold points and -- don't think I would be arrested selling something like this is like very LD.
If they can claim that you're trying to presented as currency you've made it kind of look like a dollar bill and it may therefore be illegal.
-- thanks for there was -- found.
Think a lot of Martha -- and and we're allowed -- be you know you're allowed to go and buy a gold call.
But I don't think you're allowed to use gold as legal tender right if if if you wanna hand -- a gold calling for a refrigerator.
I don't think they're supposed to take that.
And the government as nick says doesn't want competition.
They want to monopolize this incredibly.
Essential service.
