More Megan McArdle: "It's true that I don't find any of the arguments about the coercive effects of money on peoples' decisions particularly compelling," therefore we should encourage people to donate bone marrow by paying them money. To coerce them to change their decision.
You can't have it both ways. McArdle wants to show that the poor won't be coerced into making decisions that will harm them if they are offered money for organs. But she also wants to say that money will persuade people to donate organs and therefore payment for organs should be legal. That's like saying that prostitution should be legal because money won't coerce desperate women to have sex with potentially dangerous strangers. It will merely compensate them for their expenses while having sex.
(I don't disagree about bone marrow, but McArdle is still wrong about organ donation.)
UPDATE: McArdle declares herself a big fan of the Institute for Justice, which is the law firm suing to allow purchasing of bone marrow. It was founded by a school privatization advocate and an anti-eminent domain advocate. "The initial funding for the Institute came from the Koch Family Foundations which also fund the libertarian Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy." It's amazing how much respect McArdle has for the Koch family, which has supported P. Suderman, boy fiance, in so many endeavors--from tea-bagging to Reason magazine. Not to mention the fact that one of the trustees of the Aspen Institute is David H. Koch.
I have read nothing but horrifying news today, so much so that I couldn't even recap it without sounding crazy. Watching McArdle and Suderman feed from that noxious trough makes me sick.
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2 comments:
Dumbest line in her post: "...I don't find any of the arguments about the coercive effects of money on peoples' decisions particularly compelling." I surely do hope her medical savings account is doing well in these challenging times, and that she and Peter will never need to consider the coercive effects of money when they're deciding whether to sent the little Meganette to Wharton or the National Tractor Trailer School.
It is indeed especially stupid.
There's a fairy tale about a couple who mistreated their old parents until they realized that one day they'd be old and they were training their child to be just like them. I think Meganette will go into banking and one day forclose on dear old mom and dad.
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