Loophole in law lets Congressmen complete otherwise illegal inside trades.

UncleBob

UncleBob

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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57323527/congress-trading-stock-on-inside-information/

Multiple names - unsurprisingly, from both sides, mentioned in the article.

Schweizer: For example insider trading on the stock market. If you are a member of Congress, those laws are deemed not to apply.

Kroft: So congressman get a pass on insider trading?

Schweizer: They do. The fact is, if you sit on a healthcare committee and you know that Medicare, for example, is-- is considering not reimbursing for a certain drug that's market moving information. And if you can trade stock on-- off of that information and do so legally, that's a great profit making opportunity. And that sort of behavior goes on.

Kroft: Why does Congress get a pass on this?

Schweizer: It's really the way the rules have been defined. And the people who make the rules are the political class in Washington. And they've conveniently written them in such a way that they don't apply to themselves.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah I was already aware of this but it's always nice to get some specifics.

It's one of those cases where "there ought to be a law" actually applies.
 
I'm not saying it's rights, it certainly isn't. However, if given in the chance, how many of us would write the law to benefit ourselves? That's the problem, that it's actually up to them to basically police themselves in a case like this.
 
[quote name='IRHari']So it's a loophole in the law. Let's change the law.[/QUOTE]

Sounds great! Let's protest private corporations until they stop corrupting our saintly politicians so that the politicians will fix the loophole that they're abusing to make themselves rich.
 
This situation is just one example of what's wrong with this system. Changing this one law isn't going to help much - they'll just find yet another way to screw everyone.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Sounds great! Let's protest private corporations until they stop corrupting our saintly politicians so that the politicians will fix the loophole that they're abusing to make themselves rich.[/QUOTE]
When multinational corporations have hijacked and infiltrated the legislative process, petitioning the government is useless when a large enough portion of the electorate elects corporate cronies either out of ignorance or sociopathy. You can't change the sociopaths, but you can try to educate the ignorant and rallying against corporations is the first step in drawing attention to the problem. For the nth time, liberals(in general) aren't the ones supporting legislation or candidates that would make the government impotent and strip what's left of collective bargaining and social safety nets.

So when you're in a space advocating for conservative ideology, you're not really fighting for the little guy, but for those that already have a disproportionate amount of power.

No one is saying that politicians are saintly except you in your sarcasm.
 
[quote name='dohdough']No one is saying that politicians are saintly except you in your sarcasm.[/QUOTE]

Yet, people keep trying to say that the politicians in power aren't the problem.
The politicians in power are good people, they've just been corrupted.

Apparently, somehow, it benefits corporations for congressmen to enact laws that exempt them from the same standards that all other Americans are held to.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Yet, people keep trying to say that the politicians in power aren't the problem.
The politicians in power are good people, they've just been corrupted.[/quote]
So since you decided to comment on that little quote, I guess that means you agree with the rest of what I said.:roll:

NO ONE IS fuckING SAYING THAT POLITICIANS ARE fuckING ANGELS.

Politicians are actors WITHIN the system and NOT the system itself. Are principals, teachers, cafeteria workers, and janitors a school? Of course not, so stop being obtuse and trying to use actors and systems as the same interchangible evils.

Crooked politicians are not high on the list of problems WHEN CONSERVATIVES KEEP VOTING THE WORST ONES IN, BUT FOCUS ON MYTHICAL WELFARE QUEENS INSTEAD.


Apparently, somehow, it benefits corporations for congressmen to enact laws that exempt them from the same standards that all other Americans are held to.
Click to expand...
How about you tell us how it doesn't instead of your usual meaningless bullshit.
 
[quote name='dohdough']Politicians are actors WITHIN the system and NOT the system itself.[/QUOTE]

One group of people make virtually all the rules of the game. They get to write them, vote on them, enforce them and decide when they're "fair" or not.

In this game, there's winners and losers.

The losers get screwed over by the rules of the game, but instead of blaming those responsible for the rules, let's blame their friends.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Sounds great! Let's protest private corporations until they stop corrupting our saintly politicians so that the politicians will fix the loophole that they're abusing to make themselves rich.[/QUOTE]

Classic trolling. Take an issue we all agree on and twist it into a debate.

I guess you are the inevitable and unfortuate byproduct of the 24/7 cable news networks.
 
[quote name='camoor']Take an issue we all agree on [...][/QUOTE]

The exact same issue I've been going on about for... how long now?

Glad we all agree on it now.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']One group of people make virtually all the rules of the game. They get to write them, vote on them, enforce them and decide when they're "fair" or not.

In this game, there's winners and losers.

The losers get screwed over by the rules of the game, but instead of blaming those responsible for the rules, let's blame their friends.[/QUOTE]
Hey numbnuts, politicians don't create legislation in a vacuum. A lot of deregulation and increases in privitization are proposed by corporate lobbyists. In a corporatocracy, those people writing the rules and the friends are the same fucking people.

I know you're trolling me with strawmen, so fuck you too.
 
[quote name='dohdough']A lot of deregulation and increases in privitization are proposed by corporate lobbyists.[/QUOTE]

I hereby propose that everyone in this thread give me $5.

Because I proposed it, you must now comply, right?
 
[quote name='UncleBob']The exact same issue I've been going on about for... how long now?

Glad we all agree on it now.[/QUOTE]

Why couldn't you have just been happy that for two shining posts you actually had people agreeing with you? Now you are attempting to conflate this issue with your whacky personal philosophy. Take it away Blade...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oErlk4CddO0
 
[quote name='camoor']Why couldn't you have just been happy that for two shining posts you actually had people agreeing with you?[/QUOTE]

...

[quote name='dohdough'][...]you can try to educate the ignorant [...][/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='UncleBob']This situation is just one example of what's wrong with this system. Changing this one law isn't going to help much - they'll just find yet another way to screw everyone.[/QUOTE]

Which is why I say most of the problems in America ultimately come back to one thing. People are lazy and they are selfish. The only way to truely fix things 100% in the American system and keep it 100% fixed is for people to educate themselves. But hey as they say "I have no time to read the paper....oooooo dancing with the stars is a 2 hour episode tonight!"
 
What is weird is that the con solution always relies on magical thinking and/or throwing out every institution. Fixing the fucking problem is never an option.
 
[quote name='Msut77']What is weird is that the con solution always relies on magical thinking and/or throwing out every institution. Fixing the fucking problem is never an option.[/QUOTE]

LMAO So true.

American conservatives are a fucking joke.
 
[quote name='Msut77']What is weird is that the con solution always relies on magical thinking and/or throwing out every institution. Fixing the fucking problem is never an option.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. Every conservative says destroy whatever system is currently in place. Far to many liberals say to toss more money at it though to be fair(even if far less then the number of conservatives that just say destroy the system). The real answer is reform followed by cuts or increases to funding based on need.

I never can understand how people just blindly want to toss money or cut money from programs...no one ever says reform then see what we need.
 
Reform?

That sounds an awful lot like what I was speaking of recently in the OWS thread where I said we needed "More effectual regulation and enforcement."...

Weird.
 
Deregulation solves all problems when the problems are regulations. I wonder how the deregulation argument would work in this case? You see, the politicians that do the inside trading just won't get as many customers and then they'd go out of business... Err... Hmmm...
 
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