Poor Martha, and the Rest of Us as Well

No matter what your opinion of Martha Stewart the dresser, homemaker and cook, any defender of liberty will be disappointed to see politically motivated prosecutors trying to get her thrown in jail this week on charges of lying to federal prosecutors. It seems that everywhere the government is finding it"necessary" to essentially subvert markets that work just fine thank you.

For a nice review of how markets, not government, can handle cheaters quite efficiently you should read Fred McChesney's take on how market forces could better deal with the mutual fund problems involving timing trades and short-term trading. I should say that this is in part a shameless plug for Liberty Fund's own creation the EconLib Webpage which is an invaluable resource for faculty and students interested in free markets and the classic texts that underpin them.