Michael Berry

Michael Berry

Michael Berry has drunk homemade moonshine from North Carolina with Robert Earl Keen, met two presidents with the same last name, been cussed at by...Full Bio

 

Pelosi Defends Lawmakers Trading Stocks On Insider Information

This is why so many lawmakers accumulate massive wealthy on their congressional salary.

They use their insider information to profit on what they are supposed to be managing.

This week, Business Insider reported that at least 49 members of congress and more than 180 of their staffers likely violated federal reporting requirements to prevent insider trading and conflicts of interest.

Pelosi was asked about it by a reporters and brushed the report aside.

Here’s the exchange:

REPORTER: Madame Speaker, Insider just completed a five-month investigation finding that 49 members of Congress and 182 senior congressional staffers have violated the STOCK Act, the insider trading law. I'm wondering if you have any reaction to that? And, secondly, should members of Congress have their spouses be banned from trading individual stocks while serving in Congress?
PELOSI: No, I don't -- no to the second one. Any -- we have a responsibility to report in the stock -- on the stock. But I don't -- I'm not familiar with that five-month review, but if people aren't reporting, they should be.
REPORTER: Why shouldn't they be banned?
PELOSI: Because this is a free market and people -- we're a free-market economy. They should be able to participate in that. Yes, ma'am.

As Luke Savage writes:

“It’s hard to think of anything more symbolic of America’s gilded and decadent ruling class than elected officials owning pieces of the very economy they’re officially charged with managing...
It’s a clear and visible conflict of interest, and the kind of thing that wouldn’t be allowed in a functioning democratic society. And, as recent history quite clearly shows, it’s one that quite easily leads to naked abuses of power.
There are many documented cases of federal lawmakers trading stocks in industries they oversee while holding important committee assignments. Several US senators infamously off-loaded a smorgasbord of stock following a classified briefing about the potential economic impact of the coronavirus — and instances like these are almost certainly just the tip of the iceberg.”

Here's an infuriating segment from 60 Minutes about member of Congress trading on inside information.


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