No Trading for legislators? Can we start a chorus of “Kumbaya”?
Whether it’s Pelosi or Richard Burr, or whoever.
It’s pretty wild though: it’s a relatively clear case of the public wanting X, which makes me think we can never have X.
Let’s get parsing and qualifying and hedging. 
Do you support this legislation? Do you not support it? Something in between?
Public seems to approve:
Yes…I’m totally on board with this corruption being outlawed.
I can’t imagine why a non-government type would be against this. Should have been done years ago.
what about IRA accounts ?
Give me your hand Margaret and let’s sing.
IRA’s and such can be moved to blind trusts.
Additionally, trading in such accounts can be limited to mutual and index funds only.
Would a blind trust also be electing where the contributions to a Roth go ? Can’t say I love that idea.
They should not be allowed to purchase stocks for individual companies. They can invest in funds like SPY, QQQ, IWM.
It always blew my mind that our legislators can perform insider trading and it’s legal…I am all for this change
From the link:
"Senate Republicans are also voicing concerns that restricting stock ownership will put the most burden on colleagues with less money and could dissuade otherwise well-qualified candidates from running for office."
What a complete load of crap! None of these people are anything special and any one of us can easily do these so-called jobs!
I’d say just put ALL investments in a blind trust.
Suppose a guy had a million dollars in investments (IRA or otherwise), and then gets elected to Congress. Should he have to sell it all before being sworn in?
Does this apply only to publicly traded stocks? What if he were invested in a private company? What if he owned his own company? Perhaps a string of car dealerships. Would he have to sell them, lest he appear to favor the auto industry?
Just thinking out loud here, and not necessarily posing these questions to Safiel. (I just used your post as a springboard for the questions that this issue raises for me.)
This is a no brainer.
I also want this to go through and watch which republicans and democrats suddenly decide not to run anymore.
If it weeds out the public servants who aren’t in it for the right reason… then that is a win for Americans.
In my aerospace job I had to go to insider trading compliance every other year for 21 years. What congress does… using family and a nod and a wink to pass on trading tips is a well known but illegal activity for industry. It should be for those who write the laws too. It is always worthy of an investigation at the minimum.
Would not a detailed required disclosure address the issue? That’s what’s required in the executive branch for individual stock holdings (Form OGE-450).
So, based entirely on all my unexamined biases, I think it’s very status as a “no brainer” is exactly why it can’t happen. No way it avoids the zero-sum woodchipper.
And when they “forget” or pass the tip to a family member who is not subject to the disclosure?
Naaaa… are you serious?
I want to at least give them liberty to invest where they want to in a Roth. You’re already capped at 6k per year.
