A government that can jail the rich and well-known at will and confiscate all of their assets is a government that can do the same thing to "ordinary" people--and at a lower cost to government officials, warns William Anderson. If people really want a prosecutorial state with no limitations, they will have their wish granted--and lose whatever precious freedoms they may still have.
The Enron scandal fueled the drive for campaign finance reform well enough for a campaign finance reform (CFR) bill to get signed into law. However, immediately after this occurred, various interest groups presented legal challenges to the new legislation based on its questionable compliance with the First Amendment.
Martha Stewart, one of our most productive citizens, is being targeted for destruction by our most unproductive entity, the federal government. To understand the law of insider trading, writes James Ostrowski, you have to be a real insider. Yet, ignorance of the law is no excuse (unless you are a judge).
Terrorists killed nearly three thousand people on September 11, 2001, but more than three thousand died in the year 2001 waiting for a kidney transplant. Mark Thornton reports that these deaths are largely avoidable, via a market for organs.
The show put on in Manhattan the other day was unnecessary, in fact or in law, says James Ostrowski. "Let John Rigas answer in court his actions, if he is convicted, but making a 78-year-old, ex-combat infantryman in World War II the scapegoat for a failing administration and failing economy leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
Don't want to press a claim to vindicate your own rights? Never mind, a bureaucrat will decide whether the "public interest" requires a claim to be brought on your behalf. David Dieteman examines the expanding power of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
It was September 11, and panicked customers were flocking to the two gas stations Bobbie Jean Harvey owns near Midland, Mich., to top off their tanks in case the supply of gas was disrupted. It became apparent that sales on September 11 were going to be above average. In hindsight, however, Ms. Harvey wishes she had closed her stations.
Arbitration is under fire again, but it remains the best way to settle employer/employee disputes. It is more likely to protect the property rights of the parties to the lawsuit. Government courts, in contrast, principally benefit the lawyers and those who write the laws. Adam Young examines private-arbitration clauses.
What's the difference between the cultures of the private sector and the public sector? Consider the difference between Arthur Andersen, which has no future, and the U.S. Forest Service, which will live forever. The answer can be traced to property rights, and it explains why market outcomes are always held to a much higher standard than public-sector outcomes.
Poor Martha Stewart and Samuel Waksal, snared by arbitrary insider-trading laws that require information to be socialized. If one party knows more than others about a particular firm or industry, the SEC is perfectly able to rule that possessing--and acting upon--that knowledge is a crime.
