Congressional insiders used information about the impending financial crisis to profit on the stockmarket: http://www.businessinsider.com/spencer-bachus-congress-insider-trading-60-minutes-2011-11
What says languish? Will there be repercussions?
Should be? Yes. Will be? No.
What are the restrictions on elected officials making their own trades in the US? I dont think it is even allowed here.
Quote from: Jacob on November 14, 2011, 01:21:25 PM
Congressional insiders used information about the impending financial crisis to profit on the stockmarket: http://www.businessinsider.com/spencer-bachus-congress-insider-trading-60-minutes-2011-11
What says languish? Will there be repercussions?
There sure as hell should be. :mad:
Quote from: crazy canuck on November 14, 2011, 01:25:29 PM
What are the restrictions on elected officials making their own trades in the US? I dont think it is even allowed here.
wasn't there something like this with Ralph Goodale and a leaked budget?
It wasnt Goodale himself. A civil servant breached the rules.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/personalfinance/incometrust-probe-faqs.html
QuoteThe IMET team spent many months sifting through a huge paper trail, using sophisticated software programs that flag unusual trading patterns. The team looked at thousands of trades in dozens of income trusts and dividend-paying stocks and talked to many officials inside and outside of government and the investment industry.
On Feb. 15, 2007, the RCMP and the IMET team charged a top Finance Department bureaucrat, Serge Nadeau, with criminal breach of trust. The Mounties alleged that he "used confidential Government of Canada information for the purchase of securities which gave him a personal benefit." Nadeau faces up to five years in prison if convicted. The RCMP said their 14-month-long investigation is now concluded
In 2010 Nadeau pled guilty, recieved a fine and community service and apparently is now teaching at the University of Ottawa. His defence was that his unlawful use in information had nothing to do with the wider leak and apparently that defence won the day in terms of a light sentence being negotiated with the Crown.
http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=a9423bad-99ab-46ad-abe2-35dcf3706241
Quote from: crazy canuck on November 14, 2011, 01:25:29 PM
What are the restrictions on elected officials making their own trades in the US? I dont think it is even allowed here.
Cabinet members have to put their assets in a blind trust I think. No restrictions on members of Congress.
Doesn't even scratch the surface. Look at the trades of their spouses too and we'll really start getting dirty.
So when they send picture of their schlong on twitter they lose their jobs but fucking up voters is A-Ok?
To paraphrase: sex is bad, greed is good.
I thought everyone knew about this. Congress members, Senators, and staffers should really be required to put stocks in a blind trust.
What's far more interesting than the fact that members of Congress can use inside information for trading, in my opinion, is that a Congressman would take information regarding the impending crash and use it to profit rather than bring that information to the attention of the House Financial Services Committee to see if anything could be done to mitigate it.
Quote from: fahdiz on November 14, 2011, 02:49:11 PM
What's far more interesting than the fact that members of Congress can use inside information for trading, in my opinion, is that a Congressman would take information regarding the impending crash and use it to profit rather than bring that information to the attention of the House Financial Services Committee to see if anything could be done to mitigate it.
What! You want him to lose on his short position!
Quote from: crazy canuck on November 14, 2011, 02:54:25 PM
What! You want him to lose on his short position!
;)
It strikes me a lot of the time that Congressmen seem to forget why they're in Congress in the first place.
Anyone else try Yakie's link? Anyone else have problems with it? It opened about 7 tabs on my browser and froze me up.
Are you still using a dial up?
No problems here.
Have you done a Malware scan lately Yi?
Quote from: crazy canuck on November 14, 2011, 04:29:30 PM
No problems here.
Have you done a Malware scan lately Yi?
No. How does one do that?
Oh, boy.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 14, 2011, 03:59:11 PM
Anyone else try Yakie's link? Anyone else have problems with it? It opened about 7 tabs on my browser and froze me up.
Worked fine for me.
I agree with the title of the book. Throw them all out. Surely there should be prosecutions from this?
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 14, 2011, 04:36:37 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on November 14, 2011, 04:29:30 PM
No problems here.
Have you done a Malware scan lately Yi?
No. How does one do that?
I feel like I am getting the Yi treatment again but I have no idea why that might be.
Quote from: fahdiz on November 14, 2011, 02:59:13 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on November 14, 2011, 02:54:25 PM
What! You want him to lose on his short position!
;)
It strikes me a lot of the time that Congressmen seem to forget why they're in Congress in the first place.
I thought this was why they wanted to go to Congress. :huh:
Quote from: alfred russel on November 14, 2011, 05:09:13 PM
I thought this was why they wanted to go to Congress. :huh:
:D Yes, it seems that moving against the constituents you represent is becoming quite the cottage industry in Congress.
Quote from: Sheilbh on November 14, 2011, 04:47:34 PM
I agree with the title of the book. Throw them all out. Surely there should be prosecutions from this?
I'm not sure that any laws were actually broken, so I'm not sure what you'd prosecute them for. This appears to be legal, though very sleazy.
Quote from: dps on November 14, 2011, 11:20:51 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on November 14, 2011, 04:47:34 PM
I agree with the title of the book. Throw them all out. Surely there should be prosecutions from this?
I'm not sure that any laws were actually broken, so I'm not sure what you'd prosecute them for. This appears to be legal, though very sleazy.
I don't think there's any laws being broken, or if there is it may be hard to prove. I saw the 60 minutes episode about this. What I found interesting former congressmen and and former staffers are sometimes hired gather information that would make money on the stock market.
Quote from: fahdiz on November 14, 2011, 02:49:11 PM
What's far more interesting than the fact that members of Congress can use inside information for trading, in my opinion, is that a Congressman would take information regarding the impending crash and use it to profit rather than bring that information to the attention of the House Financial Services Committee to see if anything could be done to mitigate it.
Nothing could have been done to mitigate it, because nobody was interested in mitigating it.
Quote from: dps on November 14, 2011, 11:20:51 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on November 14, 2011, 04:47:34 PM
I agree with the title of the book. Throw them all out. Surely there should be prosecutions from this?
I'm not sure that any laws were actually broken
Indeed. It is however a serious breach of trust.
Quote from: fahdiz on November 15, 2011, 02:00:10 AM
Quote from: dps on November 14, 2011, 11:20:51 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on November 14, 2011, 04:47:34 PM
I agree with the title of the book. Throw them all out. Surely there should be prosecutions from this?
I'm not sure that any laws were actually broken
Indeed. It is however a serious breach of trust.
It does seem a tad unfair, doesn't it. I mean, insider trading is suppose to be illegal.
Quote from: dps on November 14, 2011, 11:20:51 PMI'm not sure that any laws were actually broken, so I'm not sure what you'd prosecute them for. This appears to be legal, though very sleazy.
Surely it would be illegal if a civil servant at the regulator or the Fed used their knowledge like this?
Quote from: Razgovory on November 15, 2011, 02:31:28 AM
It does seem a tad unfair, doesn't it. I mean, insider trading is suppose to be illegal.
Well, what I was alluding to earlier is not just that it's unfair - it is - but also that people are elected to Congress to act in the interest of and on behalf of their constituents in particular and the American people in general. So blatantly using information related to market collapse - which obviously affects Bachus' constituents - in order to profit smacks of adding considerable insult to the injury of unfairness.