When you buy and sell stocks based on secrets you learned at the office, it could be insider trading. But when a United States Senator does it, it's probably perfectly legal. That's because the SEC has largely determined that trading stocks based on advance knowledge of action in Congress is not insider trading. http://www.cnbc.com/id/43471561
Congress should not even be allowed to invest in equities. They should only be allowed to put their money into government debt products while in office.
Another evidence that the powerful can get away while the small potatoes are punished to the extremes.
Soon these same *ssholes will be telling you and I that we have to invest our 401k's and IRA's in government debt only because this way they can keep promising tax payer's money to those that help get them elected.
I said my peace about the SEC and FINRA in other threads. But what the hell....... I'll say it again. Burn the offices down and make sure they have nothing to do with another market again. Between this, their requirement of back off employees to be registered, the 25k rule (but cry to the HFTs when there's no liquidity), and finally the one that REALLY sent me over the edge.....the announcement of the Goldman inquiry on OPEX i've had it with those reckless losers. Who the heck does that on OPEX? What brain-dead losers would put the screws to options writers like that? I have ZERO respect for anyone that dumb. A lot of money and most importantly BRAINS go into those models. Why the SEC feels the need screw up the very same thing they are there to protect boggles my mind.
Another sign that the US is Rome. They should be more careful about losing any integrity the financial system has, it's more brittle than they think.
Suppose you're member of Congress and you have an account @ GS. You're going to vote on a piece of legislation "asbestos" for example. So you buy some USG or GRA, bellls and whistles go off at the GS office and bada bing bada boom, everyone at GS has a position. You snooze you lose. So the star trader @GS trading asbestos stocks says "whoa" who needs GS, I'll start a hedge fund, use my contacts in Congress. Just sayin......
that is the 2nd and 3rd world way of doing things ie argentina during their fiscal crisis. why don't you start a thread on this subject to publicize the threat? include a poll on whether it is likely to happen or not.