This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Congress Must IMMEDIATELY Pass HR 1148: The "Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge" Act
Update: we have learned that the current iteration of HR 682 is HR 1148, it's purpose is "To prohibit commodities and securities trading based on nonpublic information relating to Congress, to require additional reporting by Members and employees of Congress of securities transactions, and for other purposes" sponsored by Tim Waltz, and as of June 1 was... referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution.
Following yesterday's 60 Minutes grotesque special which finally exposed to the general public what most experts in the industry have known for many years, namely that the bulk of "profits" for Congressmen (at a fixed $174,000 salary for the current year) and Senators are made courtesy of perfectly legal insider trading, it is time to ask the logical next question: how is it possible that the US system of checks and balances has failed so spectacularly, as to allow a glaringly illegal activity for everyone else to proceed and to generate multi-million dollar windfalls for congressional and senatorial critters? It would be perfectly understandable if some very righteous anger accompanies said question. Well, as it turns out, some, very few, Congressmen have a conscience and do believe in operating within the confines of the law, and 2 years ago proposed HR 682: Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act. HR 682, sponsored by Rep. Brian Baird, has a purpose "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." Wonder why you have never heard of HR 682, aside from the obvious: that Congress would never vote in a law to cut off this massive illegal form of funding for itself: "This bill never became law." Well, duh.
More: "This bill was proposed in a previous session of Congress. Sessions of Congress last two years, and at the end of each session all proposed bills and resolutions that haven't passed are cleared from the books. Members often reintroduce bills that did not come up for debate under a new number in the next session." Indicatively, the bill died when it was referred to, extremely ironically, the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. So there you have it, and the question now is: who of the 435 members of Congress will be so kind to just say no to perpetuating this gross criminal act, and finally make it illegal for Congressmen to trade on inside information, just as it is for everyone else, and usually ends up leading to prison time and multimillion dollar fines for all those other "mortals" who are caught doing it. After all, is it too much to demand of Congress to follow the laws that are in place for everyone else???
And a letter penned by the original two bill sponsors to Nancy Pelosi. Logically, nothing ever happened afterwards.
»
- 15924 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Getting rid of LIFETIME PENSIONS (WTF!!!?) for politicians should absolutely be JOB #1 for all democracies. What is the justification for this garbage? One term of service grants you the right to be a parasitic leach in perpetuity? Give me a fucking break! Hang all of these worthless cocksuckers!!
HOOOOOOOOOOOLD IT! are you telling me that the libertarian crybabies are advocating for MORE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION?!?
i thought you peabrain Friedman-ites were all about unfettered insider trading? or is it that you're just JEALOUS?
better rethink your deluded self destructive nihilist libertarian theology....otherwise your hypocrite parasitic welfare GOD, Ayn Rand, may smite thee.
Freedom is bad.
Yes, because the following quotes wreak of advocacy for more government:
"Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government. "
Friedman
"Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. "
RandNot more government intervention - just apply it equally to ALL citizens.
Let's get rid of lots of rules and regulations. BUT ALL of the surviving rules and regulations that apply to us commoners should apply equally to those in the federal government. It goes well beyond insider trading rules and ObamaCare.
This STOCK act is just the tip of the unequal application of laws iceberg.
Closing the barn door after the horse got out.
I suppose insider trading laws should be rewritten to include every representative and senator by name- they'll only ignore it otherwise, then blame it on staffers.
Remember the Congressional scandals vis a vis their bank, restaurants and mail room? Rostenkowski and Co?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975009,00.html
RICO act should cover this. I'm tired of their capers.
I am angry. Time to masterbate
CLAWBACKS, BITCHEZ!!
Below are the odds of the most likely to happen:
Snowballs Chance in Hell 2:1
EU pulls itself out of the debt crisis 20:1
Housing Recovery in 2012 25:1
Passing HR1148 50:1
The headline tomorrow will be: Passing HR1148 will remove liquidity from the system, markets won't be as efficient, too many unintended consequences.
Are people starting to realize how corrupt and fraudulent the entire world economy is? Most of the worlds wealth is nothing but a paper fantasy.
Read:
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wealth-Mr-Andrew-Costello/dp/1463523017/ref
One of Pelosi's responses at the press conference after it was brought up that she bought V shares was, "Well, I did it" It's crystal fucking clear you did it.... that's why you're being asked about it in a press conference by someone from 60 Minutes, the question is "didn't you see the conflict of interest?" It was like a 10 year old responding to a question they didn't like..
They are more then willing to pass legislation that applies to everyone else.
What else is new?
Check their health care benefits.
Spoken like a true 99ner.
Obama Care will be great, just you wait and see.
Not that Hanity and Co are any better, there solution is for you to work really hard for the 1% and then maybe, just maybe, you too will be allowed to join this special club that has its own ‘special’ laws. After all even Oligarchs don’t live forever; the 1% are always looking for fresh talent to replenish the cesspool.
Even the laws for the 1% get changed if some Federal wonk calls you on it. Maybe you’ll need to pay a penalty that is 1/10 of the profit you made, maybe not. After which anyone in the 1% club can avail themselves of this new ‘legal’ innovation in ‘capitalism’.
The mistake that Madoff made BTW was that he stole from the 1%, a big no no. It’s only legal if you steal from the 99% like Corizin, bad Bernie, bad. Bernie obviously didn’t understand the dual nature of the USA legal system.
It would be interesting to write up a series of Constitutional amendments that shuts down this little cabal and then pass it into law via the States since DC is hopeless for the reasons outlined on this board.
These people are NOT critters. My dog or my cat or the squirrels that play in my yard are critters. There criminals are DEVILS, or MONSTERS, or better yet PARASITES. They are NOT critters.
to jack [take-the-fall-guy] abramoff "revenge is best served cold, and sweet!"
A neologism: Henceforth a "Paterno" shall be anyone, however innocuous in aspect, who willfully withholds knowledge of harmful or unscrupulous behavior perpetrated by a person upon another person or group, from fear of peer pressure. I don't know, it just came to me while I was reading about the insider trading by Congress.
Hmmm ... and we thought we were just joking when we would comment "he must be short xxx ..." or "that rep must be long xxx ..." as they would grill a CEO or make another stupid comment about an industry.
Can they find anything more to annihilate their credibility on any issue?
Tyler,
Nice! I don't watch tv bec. it annoys me. This is absolutely vital info.
1 question, is there ANY legally supportable legislation on the books (or Federal Register) to prove what 60 minutes claims here?
Or, is more smoke being blown at us?
I heard the bit about Reps & Sens are not CORPORATE insiders, but there has to be more. Just read the multiple definitions of UNITED STATES in Black's law dictionary!
This isn't news. I'm all for insider trading and especially congressional insider trading. Let it run rampant and out infront of everyone. I am just left wondering why CBS is bringing this out in the open. Their shareholders won't appreciate it. We need more volatility and less liquidity to quicken the collapse and this is a nice little addition.
Fucking criminals.
And you's American still pay your taxes....?
Eight IPOs. For a small investor. Sometimes large funds have trouble getting allocations, yet the POS Pelosi gets shares eight times.
One might ask, given that such allocations required more than special consideration from major brokerage firms (underwriters), how aggressively Pelosi might be inclined to pursue legislation that would affect Wall Street, much less whether she might encourage the SEC or Justice Dept. to pursue Wall Street corruption.
On the other hand, one needn't bother to ask. The answer is: Pelosi couldn't give a shit what potential harm WS corruption or the mere existence of TBTF might do to the country she ostensibly serves.
That makes her, in the opinion of the proverbial "reasonable man", a greater threat to the safety and security of the United States that now dead former US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who was chief of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Put Pelosi on "The List". Fuck due process. If al-Awlaki was not entitled to it, neither should Pelosi be entitled.
Dont be afraid to insist they not invest in non-public entities as well, and divest themselves of any existing ownership in private companies as well. If thats too much to ask, I'm sure there's a qualified candidate who's willing to do exactly that. I don't want to hear about individuals with investments in say, the Chicago Climate Exchange voting or introducing legislation impacting said company once they take office. Also, lets take a peek at the immedite families and friends of said politicos too.
I've long suspected that stated "political contributions" were laundered insider trading profits.
Can you really raise tens of miliions of dollars from small contributions on the internet?
The second amendment was put there for a reason. No better time to use it than now.