Should Congressmen be allowed to trade on Inside Information?

Discussion in 'Economics' started by nitro, Oct 19, 2011.

Should Congressmen be allowed to trade on Inside Information?

  1. Yes.

    11 vote(s)
    18.0%
  2. No.

    47 vote(s)
    77.0%
  3. I don't know.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. I don't care.

    3 vote(s)
    4.9%
  1. Nixon was long gold at $35/oz. Part of his resignition deal was to transfer 50% of his position the the Bush Sr. family. Some think the whole Watergate scandal was just a rouse to take the heat off any investigation into the gold standard fiasco. Funny how after they both left office they never had to get a job.
     
    #21     Dec 2, 2011
  2. Did Nancy Pelosi profit from Visa stock purchases


    "60 Minutes" reports that Pelosi bought 5,000 shares of Visa at $44 each on March 18. (To put that into context, Pelosi’s net worth in 2009 - she’s married to real estate investor and venture capitalist Paul Pelosi - was $21.7 million.) Pelosi spent roughly $220,000 (excluding trading costs) on the Visa IPO. Considering the IPO was a then-record $17.9 billion, Pelosi’s take was vanishingly small.

    Much has been made of the fact that the stock popped to around $60 in the following days, netting Pelosi a cool $80,000. Of course, she didn’t sell her stock then. In fact, Pelosi bought more. Much more.

    Pelosi bought in two more tranches, her financial disclosure records show. As her office released today, those were on March 25, 2008 (10,000 shares at $64) and on June 4 (5,000 shares at $86). Pelosi ended up with nearly $1.3 million in shares at an average cost of $64.50, well above the IPO price and consistent with an investor looking to buy a long-term holding, not flip the stock for a short-term profit.

    In fact, since that time Pelosi has held on to nearly all of her Visa stake outside of one sale for between $15,000 and $50,000 - which delivered her a loss of $2,500 to $5,000 in the winter of 2008.


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    Getting the IPO is considered insider trader?? Really??
     
    #22     Dec 2, 2011
  3. The law says, "trading on inside information is STEALING from the uninformed party (the one on the other side of your trade)".

    So, how can that be a crime for citizens and a privilege for politicos? (I mean besides the usual, "we make the rules which citizens have to follow, but from which we exempt ourselves".)

    :mad: :mad:
     
    #24     Dec 5, 2011
  4. No, it's obvious corruption.
     
    #25     Dec 5, 2011
  5. It should be banned, but heck this whole country is corrupt to core. And frankly anyone on this board would take that advantage if they could.
     
    #26     Dec 5, 2011
  6. Can anyone name one politician while in office who traded on inside information?
     
    #27     Dec 5, 2011
  7. I don't think anyone was ever convicted.
     
    #28     Dec 5, 2011
  8. Has it ever occurred? Either the person who wrote that research paper doesn't understand what insider trading is or is pathetic libertarian who is grasping for straws.
     
    #29     Dec 5, 2011
  9. Yes they should be allowed.

    Congress Rules!

    Failure to disobey or speak out about your masters will result in extreme punishment.

    Congress Akbar!
    Peace be upon them.
     
    #30     Dec 5, 2011