Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Salman v. United States, a case that illustrates the vague, arbitrary, and capricious nature of insider trading “laws.” Insider trading laws restrict people’s ability to buy and sell securities based on “material nonpublic information.” But what the government considers insider trading is often so nebulous that it amounts to ex post facto law: in many cases, it is impossible to know whether you’ve committed a crime until the government says you committed one.
In this episode of The Yaron Brook Show, Don Watkins interviews George Selgin, senior fellow and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Georgia. Together they discuss the ethics and economics of fractional reserve banking, the cause of inflation and instability, pre-Fed “panics” and the Fed’s role in the financial crisis of 2008.
Tomorrow, September 24, Don Watkins is sitting in for Yaron Brook to discuss the virtues of free banking and monetary freedom with George Selgin, senior fellow and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Georgia. Join Don Watkins tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. Eastern to learn about the ethics and economics of fractional reserve banking, the Fed as the cause of inflation and instability, the cause of pre-Fed financial panics, the origin of the Fed and the Fed’s role in the financial crisis of 2008.
Don’t miss an all-new episode of The Yaron Brook show this Saturday, in which Yaron will take up the myriad attacks against the financial industry. Among other topics, he will explain why bankers are reviled in today’s culture, describe the enormous value they create and argue why we should ardently defend the business of finance.
On today’s episode of The Yaron Brook Show, topics included: Yaron’s review of American Sniper; the elections in Greece; everything wrong with President Obama’s State of the Union address; the policies Yaron would pass if he were president.
In an online interview at City A.M., ARI executive director Yaron Brook commented on French economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the surprise international bestseller that laments economic inequality.
Whenever the press, politicians and academics vilify a financial phenomenon, further examination almost always reveals that its bad elements are caused by regulation, not by markets — and often its consequences are good, despite what the experts claim. Case in point: the hysteria surrounding so-called high-frequency trading.
