Sunday, April 27, 2008

Congress: BUSTED!!

What's taking you so long!? On May 16, 2007, Rep. Brian Baird [D-WA] introduced a bill known as "H.R. 2341: Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act". This act had been created to "To prohibit securities and commodities trading based on nonpublic information relating to Congress, and to require additional reporting by Members and employees of Congress of securities transaction, and for other purposes." ARE YOU SERIOUS!? YOU ARE OUR NATION'S DECISION MAKERS AND YOU'RE EVEN THINKING ABOUT LYING/CHEATING/STEALING? Why is this even an issue? While I recognize that lobbying presents an obvious conflict of interest, what Congress-person would be unintelligent/dishonorable enough to use Government information to trade their own account? Below is the document, via GovTrack:

H.R. 2341: Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act


1 comment:

Kyle Wolfe said...

There is "significant" evidence that Congress members outperform the market since the restrictions are extremely relaxed, but can you blame them. They're not getting paid that much compared to other jobs they are qualified for and this could be seen as a perk of the job. Also I think it is unfair to assume that our government officials are oustanding moral individuals. Just take a look at recent scandals with Spitzer, and the bathroom Senator guy.