As we have all come to expect from our elected “leaders”, we are now finding out that many of them have been using inside information to place trades in their personal investment accounts. Now, insider trading is illegal for you and me, but it is certainly acceptable for our elected “leaders”.
Here is a good video describing some of the trading activities of our elected “leaders.” Most of the trades are hidden inside blind trusts, but isn’t it ironic that as Congress shamed short selling and derivatives during the market downturn that they were using these very instruments to bet against the American economy. From the Wall Street Journal,
Even a cynic can find Washington’s hypocrisy shocking at times. The Wall Street Journal reports today a House bill that would force lawmakers to make greater disclosures on financial transactions and disallow them from trading on nonpublic information is going nowhere fast.
That’s right. Members of Congress are currently allowed to profit on insider trading!
The bill, which has been languishing in the House for four years, would require elected officials “to make their financial transactions public within 90 days of a purchase or sale” and “prohibit lawmakers from trading in financial markets based on nonpublic information they learn on the job,” the WSJ reports.
It seems they’re above the transparency they’ve been calling for on Wall Street.
It is high time we let our elected “leaders” know that we aren’t putting up with this any longer. Vote out all incumbents this fall. All of them.