Nick Gillespie Defends the Indefensible of Fox Business' Stossel

Reason's Nick Gillespie appeared on Fox Business' Stossel show on August 18, 2011, to "defend the indefensible." The co-author of the new book The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America, Gillespie and David Boaz of the Cato Institute and Alex Tabarrok of George Mason University made the moral and economic case for often-vilified practices ranging from ticket scalping to human-organ sales to the creation of private currencies.

About 19 minutes.

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Comments

[Old Mexican]

Reason's Nick Gillespie appeared on Fox Business' Stossel show on August 18, 2011, to "defend the indefensible[...]"

"... without Walter Block."

[la feminista]

+1. Props to Block.

[Mr Whipple]

Funny how two from the KOCHTOPUS discuss a book by someone from LvM.

[Zeb]

Is there anything Alex Trebek can't do?

[Matrix]

how about saying his name backwards?

[rts]

Appear at the same time and place as Stossel.

Coincidence?

[Zeb]

I had never even heard of Stossel before Trebek shaved his mustache. Coincidence?

[The New Guy]

So... Nick wrote some kind of book?

[Jeff P.]

How about using internal organs as my private currency?

[rts]

... to pay for drugs, prostitution and scalped tickets.

[newshutz]

one problem. Good money is interchangeable, one coin is like unto another, but kidneys are not.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Jeff P,

How about using internal organs as my private currency?

Sure! Can you make change?

[wef]

The headline's typo confuses me: What is Stossel's indefensible?

[Jerry]

The stache?

[Masturbatin' Pete]

I've never understood why ticket-scalping exists on any significant scale. Venues and performers should have some idea of what the market-clearing price is for tickets. Why do they sell them so low if the secondary market is going to jack up the price?

[Jon Schaffer`s Right Hand]

Have you ever been to a show for a band with a strong following at a venue that they should be able to fill, and it's only at like 40% capacity, on a Saturday night? And even though you really like the band it's hard to get into the show because the crowd is so low? I bet a lot of bands/managers have had this happen to them, and remembering the embarrassment err towards the side of low balling ticket prices next time.

Forecasting demand is difficult, and information in the real world is not perfect.

[MNG]

I heard an economist talk about this as the very reason. Events with amall crowds are not as fun for many and they generate bad word of mouth, so they push for the tickets to be underpriced.

[sevo]

"Events with amall crowds are not as fun for many and they generate bad word of mouth, so they push for the tickets to be underpriced."

And rather than have embarrassing empties, they'll 'paper' the seats; hand out freebies.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Not only that, but they generally make more revenue from concessions and band T-shirts etc. than from ticket sales. Would you rather have a market for your shit composed of a capacity crowd, or a 40% crowd?

[Fartriloquist]

I blame Bush. Or Reagan. No, wait! The Tea Party!

[Old Mexican]

Re: Masturbating Pete,

I've never understood why ticket-scalping exists on any significant scale. Venues and performers should have some idea of what the market-clearing price is for tickets.

Despite what the economics-illiterate folk here told you, ticket scalping is a phenomenon of time preference and not just price. How much of a premium would you be willing to pay in order to avoid waiting in line for hours, like a schmuck, just for the cheaper version? That is why scalping exists.

[ech]

One of the dirty little secrets of the scalping business (where it is legal, like Texas) - a major source of their tickets are the bands and promoters themselves.

[Mr Whipple]

In NJ, too. In NJ you can sell tickets to out of state events. That makes it perfect for selling tickets for NY and Philly events. I worked for a ticket agent back in the day, and he had "agreements" with store owners that had ticketmaster and ticketron machines. Back in the 80s, camping out for a ticket agent was a great way to make a quick $100 or so, and you got to party all night.

[Old Soldier]

Anyone who buys season tickets to a sports team and doesn't want to attend every home game, will want to resell some of those seats.

[GILMORE]

Nick Gillespie Defends the Indefensible of Fox Business' Stossel

Is it that Fox Business' Stossel show is itself an indefensible use of Television bandwidth...? or is today's Typo-Fest now upping the ante to Headlines? ("on... Stossel")

This could only get better if it were posted by Nick Gilespie

[PS]

Nick, like Julius Caesar, can get away with writing about himself in the third person.

[MNG]

Poor people in such poor bargaining position that they actually trade their body organs to wealthy people sick from eating goose livers all day...

Libertarianism, smell the freedom!

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

Poor people in such poor bargaining position that they actually trade their body organs to wealthy people sick from eating goose livers all day[...]

Instead of what we have today: Poor people with such poor bargaining power that they can't even sell their OWN organs to wealthy foie gras eaters without the government interfering, thus dooming them to further poverty.

Statism, smell the slavery!

[MNG]

Poor children with such poor bargaining power that they can't even sell their OWN labor to wealthy foie gras eaters without the government interfering, thus dooming them to further poverty.

Statism, smell the slavery!

[KPres]

They'd be better off working than in public schools.

[Old Mexican]

^^ THIS ^^

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

You're not making your case any better, MNG. Poor people are better off free than cuddled by a government that purports to "protect" them - by keeping them poor and stupid [as anybody that had to undergo the Amerikan Pulbic Skool Seistem cannot end with any useful wisdom or skills.]

[DesigNate]

Ewwww, government cuddles children? That is sick. Bad government, bad.

[Sy]

Ever head a relative die while waiting on a transplant list?

Get back to me when it happens.

[MNG]

Gillespie, Boaz, a GMU prof and Stossel sitting around rapping about libertarianism...That's like having four Catholic bishops 'debate' how great Catholicism is.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

That's like having four Catholic bishops 'debate' how great Catholicism is.

But it IS great. What do you have against Catholicism?

[Almanian]

Saw this the other day. The boys done good. Having, like, 4-5 libertarian-leaning people in one room talking about stuff was pretty overwhelming. It was like looking at the whole universe....of libertarians. At one time.

Enjoyed it - well done, boys.

[Lowdog]

I watched Stossel's program for the first time a day or two ago, too, and I must say I liked it. Very cool to hear some of the ideas presented, and nice to see some in the audience who seemed to "get it".

I do wish they would focus on fewer issues, though, and really get to the meat of it.

[Jonas Davis]

Should be interesting to see how that all turns out. WOw.

http://www.web-anon.at.tc

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

OT, a friend sent me this link

Fuck, humans beings are still such tree monkeys. Almost makes you rethink your position on evolution.

[Byron]

Funny how everyone was around him, waiting in case he fell...all-powerful GAWD, indeed! FFS people are stupid.

It had zero 'dislikes'. I fixed that glitch.