How do you think the US government should control politicians from insider trading and such?
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ANSWERS: 3
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They should have done something about it a long time ago. Insider trading is highly illegal (unless you're an elected official, as it turns out). Somewhere along the line, someone has dropped the ball where "no one is above the law" is concerned. But then, American politics is all about double standards.
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bostjan the adequate 🥉 Agreed. Do you know of any was to put controls in place, though? I don't have any hope that congress would bother to pass a law banning themselves from insider trading. It'd be like hiring a fox to build a fox-proof fence around your chicken coop. -
Army Veteran It's just as bad with the pharmaceutical trade. Elected officials are allowed to invest in the pharmaceutical industry. They then cater to lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry to pass favorable laws that keep prices high. One strict law should be that elected officials should never be allowed to invest in any industry that they could ultimately influence by passing a law to benefit that industry.
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I think that's supposed to be the job of "We The People" when we go to vote. Isn't it?
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bostjan the adequate 🥉
Totally. One big limitation, though, is that you can only hold your own representative accountable this way. If say, a representative from California makes some hasty million dollar stock trades based off of upcoming legislation that hasn't been made public yet, and you live East of the Mississippi River, I guess you can say "Well, I'm not voting for her anymore," but it really makes no difference. It'd be nice if there was a way to pressure your own representative to consider ethics rules to hole these other representatives accountable. -
Linda Joy
Good point, as always.
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Why Did Martha Stewart Go to Jail? The SEC investigated and brought Stewart to trial for insider trading and, she was convicted. If you have information of such activity involving a politician, then it's up to you (or a group) as a citizen(s) to notify the SEC and request an investigation. You should also be aware, that people with a "con man" personality, can easily pass a polygraph. A professional investigation would be more useful.
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bostjan the adequate 🥉
No polygraph needed. The trades were big enough that they are known publicly. The trades coincided with legislation. There are no laws restricting lawmakers from trading stocks based on knowledge of legislation. Martha Steward went to jail for a few months because someone who was legally barred from speaking about an FDA decision spoke about the decision and word quickly reached Stewart, then she lied to the police about it. Actually, the only charges that stuck were all related to her lying to the police, so she went to jail because she lied to the police. It's illegal to lie to the police, but the police can lie to you all they want... but that's another story. -
notyouraveragedummy
No, her illegal trades were brought to light during an investigation by the FDA following their refusal to approve a drug for cancer treatment and the "coincidence" that Stewart sold 4,000 shares she owned of that company’s stock the day before the FDA decision was announced. My point is that talk is cheap. Find the facts and report them to the appropriate agency for investigation. Individuals and groups can actually do that! -
bostjan the adequate 🥉
Yeah, there's a lot to the Martha Stewart story. She told the police (federal investigators) that those shares were supposed to sell automatically when they dropped below a certain value, which was what eventually got her convicted. She was convicted of criminal conspiracy, lying to federal agents, and obstruction. She was never convicted of the illegal trading itself.
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