Filthy Lucre

Lo, and behold, the Earth has stopped turning, the dawn has not materialized, and water is no longer wet. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is co-sponsoring a bill I agree with (in principle, at least).

Dubbed 'The Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act,' it would ban members of Congress, their spouses and dependents from owning and trading individual stocks, and require either divestiture or emplacement in an approved 'qualified blind trust' within 90 days of enactment.

Hear, Hear!

Let's say you have a friend who works at a publicly traded company, or at a law or finance firm working for one, and your friend gives you advance notice of an upcoming event at that company. You figure that event will drive the price of that company's stock up, or down, and you invest some money accordingly. The thing happens, and you make some big bucks.

That's called "insider trading," it's illegal, and you and your friend are apt to get a visit from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Illegal, that is, for you, for me, for the rest of us peons and unwashed schmucks, for the wealthy, for titans of industry, for the Bobby Axelrods of the world...

but not for members of Congress.

Here's a fun Twitter account to peruse:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Capitol Hill gang are free to trade stocks on Congressional "inside information." Let's say a bill that would bump Company_01's prospects to the tune of a 50% price increase was being hotly debated in Congress. Let's say the "outsiders" figure the bill is a few votes shy. Let's say the majority whip finds those votes, and buys a pile of Company_01 stock prior to telling anyone.

Perfectly legal. Quite filthy. And a classic example of "rules for thee, but not for me."

The bill, sponsored by members of the Progressive Caucus, the Freedom Caucus, and the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, will probably go nowhere, because principles that conflict with self-interest are an endangered species in politics.

Were I a cynic (wait, I am…), I might speculate that the sponsors know it's DOA, and figure the virtue signal is enough. But, I'm willing to allow for a non-cynical take, if only to encourage more of this, so I applaud Brian Fitzpatrick, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Matt Gaetz, and Raja Krishnamoorthi for putting their bill forth.

Now, it is true that many in Congress grew wealthy apart from the opportunity to trade on inside knowledge. Some began their political careers after successful business ventures, and a few did it the old fashioned way: inheritance. But, the rapid growth in personal fortunes that some of them have enjoyed, and the fortuitous timing of some market moves as shown in the Twitter account, spotlight this matter.

Is there evidence that some representatives' votes were influenced by the opportunity to cash in? Hard to prove, for sure. But, I'd rather their salaries be quintupled than continuing to ignore their ability to trade in a way that'd get you and me tossed in jail.