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Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside information?

Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside information?


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jamesrage

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Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside information?


Congress: Trading stock on inside information? - CBS News
CBS News) Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information - but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it's time for the law to change.

The following is a script of "Insiders" which aired on Nov. 13, 2011. Steve Kroft is correspondent, Ira Rosen and Gabrielle Schonder, producers.
The next national election is now less than a year away and congressmen and senators are expending much of their time and their energy raising the millions of dollars in campaign funds they'll need just to hold onto a job that pays $174,000 a year.

Few of them are doing it for the salary and all of them will say they are doing it to serve the public. But there are other benefits: Power, prestige, and the opportunity to become a Washington insider with access to information and connections that no one else has, in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country, don't always apply to them.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

I wasn't even allowed by the company I worked for to trade stock in other companies whose business I understood if it was possible that we would do business with them.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

The whole situation is absurd. Not only is legal for congress to do insider trading, but they clearly profit from it based on their returns. It it illegal for everyone else to do that, and for good reason. Congress is not above the law and there is no reason they should be allowed to get away with cheating.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

I don't understand how this isn't already illegal under insider trading laws. It should be though.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

I don't understand how this isn't already illegal under insider trading laws. It should be though.

I don't understand either.

I suppose an argument can be made that whichever party happens to control the Oval Office and gets to appoint the Director of the SEC and the Attorney General could use such power to go after political opponents.

That being said, it would seem more logical to simply bar members of Congress from trading in stocks and bonds whilst in office.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Of course its not ok...but they do it and they always have and they will continue...and they will get away with it
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Idealistically, it should not be allowed.

Realistically, it would be a stone bitch to prevent it altogether.

Perhaps requiring public disclosure at the time of such purchases would give their political opponents an advantage they'd just as soon avoid...
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside information?


Congress: Trading stock on inside information? - CBS News
CBS News) Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information - but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it's time for the law to change.

The following is a script of "Insiders" which aired on Nov. 13, 2011. Steve Kroft is correspondent, Ira Rosen and Gabrielle Schonder, producers.
The next national election is now less than a year away and congressmen and senators are expending much of their time and their energy raising the millions of dollars in campaign funds they'll need just to hold onto a job that pays $174,000 a year.

Few of them are doing it for the salary and all of them will say they are doing it to serve the public. But there are other benefits: Power, prestige, and the opportunity to become a Washington insider with access to information and connections that no one else has, in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country, don't always apply to them.

I think what should be done is that if a politician is elected, all of their assets should be liquidated, kept in an account and go up or down, depending on metrics, such as median or average wage, GDP, # of laws overturned by the supreme court for unconstitutionality, or whatever metric we can come up with. If they do good, they make a profit, if not, then they do not.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

This is appalling. Why shouldn't this information be available to the general public?
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

sure, they should be allowed to. and then they should be prosecuted for it and thrown in jail next to their crooked bankster buddies.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

It's simple. The law that we need to pass is the one that states that any law Congress passes applies to Congress the same as everyone else.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

I think what should be done is that if a politician is elected, all of their assets should be liquidated, kept in an account and go up or down, depending on metrics, such as median or average wage, GDP, # of laws overturned by the supreme court for unconstitutionality, or whatever metric we can come up with. If they do good, they make a profit, if not, then they do not.
How about they invest that money in the government, and if the government makes a profit, their stock goes up...that could work for a metric...
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

How about they invest that money in the government, and if the government makes a profit, their stock goes up...that could work for a metric...

Why would you want government to make a profit?

At best, it should break even.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Why would you want government to make a profit?

At best, it should break even.
True, true...


I'm just thinking that many if not all of those metrics could be manipulated.

Not to mention there's the entire aspect of the various forces that they can't control, yet they tell the voters they will try anyway.

Or something...
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Nope. I was mad as hell when I read about this earlier today. They should be impeached, then prosecuted.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Nope. I was mad as hell when I read about this earlier today. They should be impeached, then prosecuted.
My understanding is, they've been doing this for, like, the entire history of the country.

Or at least decades.

Sure, I think it shouldn't be accepted - but I have no real expectation that it will cease any time soon.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Should the fox be given the key to the hen house?
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

I checked the votes. Come out Vyktor. Don't be so tiggerdly with your opinion.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

It made me mad when I heard that story. I think it was Brian Baird (from WA, state) who tried to pass leg. to make it illegal. Kudos for him, at least he tried.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

Not just no, but HELL NO!!

It's no different that an individual who wishes to purchase stock (Martha Stewart) getting information no one else knows from his/her stock broker in advance of the markets open and using it to his/her advantage for financial gain. Congressmen/women have another insider advantage in that they work with lobbyist who help them write the very laws that give them a significant advantage over anybody else, including many business leaders, because they know when a change in a particular industry is forthcoming. As such, they can move their money towards or away from said industry long before anyone else knows what's happening. This is another reason why lobbying should be frowned upon.

I don't know if there is a law prohibiting members of Congress from benefiting from insider trading since under the Constitution members of Congress can't be arrested while on the job while Congress is in session or during their daily commute to and from Congress. But I do know that any of us normal folk do what Martha Steward did they'd throw us in jail without hesitation! The same should apply to members of Congress where insider trading is concerned.
 
Re: Should elected officials be allowed to trade stock when they have inside informat

I think what should be done is that if a politician is elected, all of their assets should be liquidated, kept in an account and go up or down, depending on metrics, such as median or average wage, GDP, # of laws overturned by the supreme court for unconstitutionality, or whatever metric we can come up with. If they do good, they make a profit, if not, then they do not.

I wouldn't suggest that a politician liquidate their assets just because they were duly elected. That's absurd! But I do believe that:

1) their accounts should be frozen upon assuming office;

2) their accounts should be placed under conservatorship by an independent entity;

3) the maximum amount of annual deposits to their personal accounts should not be greater than twice the amount of their congressional pay;

4) they should sign a statement of public disclosure concerning their annual income allowing their tax returns to be viewed by the public under the FOIA;

You restrict their financial activities in the above manner and they can work with any lobbyist they want, but still be transparent to their constituency and held accountable for their financial misdeeds.
 
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