Forum Post: RIP: Insider Trading in Congress
Posted 12 years ago on April 5, 2012, 5:52 p.m. EST by GirlFriday
(17435)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Chalk one up for the reformers.
On Wednesday, President Obama signed into the law the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which bans members of Congress and their staffs from using non-public information to get a leg up in the stock market. The law also creates a system for tracking in real-time the stock deals of those walking the halls of Congress. The STOCK Act's passage marks a victory (of sorts) for the good-government group Public Citizen, a long-time advocate of banning congressional insider trading. Here's a useful White House fact-sheet with a full rundown of the law's provisions.
What the STOCK Act does not do is shine some much-needed sunlight on the so-called political intelligence industry. Political intelligence companies meet with lawmakers and their staffs and gather valuable information for Wall Street firms and hedge funds to use in their investment decisions. But a provision forcing these companies to register like lobbyists, included in the original STOCK Act, was stripped out by House Republicans. That explains the bittersweet celebration from Public Citizen's top lobbyist Craig Holman, a driving force behind the bill. "This is a good bill—the most significant ethics achievement of the 112th Congress," he said in a statement. "But it could and should be stronger, and legislation is pending to strengthen it."
Read more here: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/04/insider-trading-congress-stock-act
It is a start - of sorts. Small concession that can always be improved upon. We continue as if nothing has happened - because it really has not, not yet - But we do have the satisfaction to know that we are being heard. They just do not know yet that it is going to take a lot more than token change to satisfy anyone.
I agree. They are sadly mistaken if they think the "token" changes are going to work.
So we continue as if nothing has changed, knowing that we are being heard it makes the work more satisfying. We have truly begun.
We continue forward in common cause.
[Removed]
Once they were exposed on 6o Minutes, they couldn't take the heat any longer. But I was first informed about their insider trading on the internet, probably by a knowledgeable activist and word spread, so that's why we keep posting. We stay in their faces (just like with Alberto Gonzalas) and we keep their approval rating in the dumpster until they are gone from our government.
We were already talking about it here prior to the 60 minutes show. But, I agree we are going to have to keep it up and stay in their faces. I don't think that we should let this drop on the back burner.
Insider trading for congress has always been illegal.
http://newsroom-magazine.com/2011/government-agencies/sec/sec-enforcement-chief-tells-senate-congress-not-exempt-from-insider-trading-law/
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-01/politics/30462120_1_insider-trading-national-debate-statement
Please note they've conveniently CHOSEN not to bring charges against any in the District of Criminals.