Lost in the S&P downgrade, the market plunge, the riots in London and the debt crisis in Italy is this simple fact of market economics:

We can unlock billions in untapped revenue for individuals, even the poor, by repealing Luddite laws against the sale of body organs.

Most of us have organ surpluses now -- a holdover from when we lived on the savannas and needed to run for our lives.  We needed two kidneys and two lungs to do that.

We no longer do and in fact probably would have let market forces properly set the number of organs we really need if it were not for regulators who thwart the individual's right to choose and exercize control over the most personal decisions of our lives.

 For example, you now have two perfectly good kidneys.  You need one. That means you have a valuable commodity you would under a free market consider selling were it not for government interference.

At the same time, market forces have created fire sale conditions and prices in great destination tourist countries like Spain, Greece and now apparently Italy.


You want to travel there but you can't take advantage of the market dip in those countries because you have no money.


But if it is acknowledged that your body has surplus organ value, you can take that trip, you can take advantage of the market and answer the pull of market forces to these now bankrupt countries.  By then spending your organ money there, you stimulate those economies--which in turn results in higher prices for your organs. 



Some will suggest that the planning and recovery period from an organ transplant mean that organs are not a very liquid "currency," so to speak.  But this is where science and finance come together.

You would not actually have to have your kidney removed, merely pledge that you will.  In financial terms, you sell an option on your kidney and the buyer of the option may exercize a right within a certain time period to buy the kidney at full price.  In the mean time, you have money that you will spend to stimulate the economy.

You might also choose to mortgage your kidney, placing it as collateral for a loan that you pay back over a 30 year period. These organ mortgages of course could be traded as derivatives.

There are other organs and other approaches of course.  Kidneys are just the first logical step.

The numbers I am looking at show that if all middle class Americans would sell just one kidney, they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement until their death.

The beauty of the market force economy here  is that selling an organ not only provides the seller revenue, it also shortens the period of time spent in retirement and cuts social services costs such as Medicare and Medicaid because fewer people qualify for such programs from an actuarial longevity projection standpoint factor. 


It should be noted that my financials to this point are rough.  I'll grant that.  Some organ  numbers may need to be rounded up.

For example, the economic lift of a middle class organ owner is sufficient with one kidney.  The poor, starting from a lower economic, may have to sell more kidneys on a more frequent basis in order to reach sustainable economic independence.


But in the long run, the numbers lift the economy, cut social services and I dare say may finally win the War on Poverty.