Dave Smith > wrote in
:

> she sold the stock and someone from whom that important
> information had been withheld lost money. She sold something in what
> is supposed to be an honest market place, knowing full well that it
> was worth much less.

Value is subjective. The people buying the stock would have done so no
matter who sold it. In fact, in a brokerage-based system, the stock is all
dumped into a big hopper anyway, so those buying the stock were mostly
getting it from other ignorant people.

Consider a market where insider trading is allowed. One could tell one's
broker, "buy the stock unless an insider is selling". With such a brokerage
feature in place, Martha would have made squat, and there'd be no "need"
for the pointless insider trading law. If your broker lacks an insider
watch feature, complain.