Enron

Using the example of the recent Enron scandal and allegations of insider trading, I shall examine the strengths and weaknesses of the two arguments against insider trading - property rights and fairness. In all evenhandedness, I believe a definition to be in order; insider trading is any illegal trading by insiders who trade based on insider information, insiders being further defined as a shareholder who owns more than 10% of a corporation, or an officer or …

…simply wanted to cash in on their work, which I see no problem with. If insider trading were legal, I would probably go out of my way to create a successful company with a driven mission statement, take that company public, and buy and sell the shares of my company. It’s like printing your own money, and the government doesn’t look too kindly upon this alternative money being thrown around without its supervision.