The same entitlements apply for information. Taxation without representation is indeed tyranny, but if I held a position in the financial world, I would consider it just as tyrannical for some Financial Services Gestapo to deny me the right to keep and act on secrets. The attack on insider dealing is an attack on privacy itself, camouflaged by a lot of moralising sentiment. Perhaps the greatest case against insider trading regulations is their sheer unworkability. The year before last I interviewed Peter Quinnen, Chairman of James Capel and Co., the largest firm of stockbrokers in the City of London.
Insider trading is, indeed, impossible to eliminate.
That is not to say that financial regulations are having no effect. My friends Chris and Judy Tame have recently reduced their involvement in their financial services business because of them. The strict rules concerning how information must be conveyed to clients had made it much more difficult for them to work effectively. These same regulations which were intended to facilitate the spread of information have, in fact, stifled it. It also made me think.