Click the Pic Thank you, JoeProBono
Gary Appreciates Monthly Donors
Follow the Exciting Adventures of Gary the Snail!
Abolish FReepathons
Go Monthly
Sponsoring FReepers will contribute $10
For each New Monthly Donor Sign-up
Posted on 10/04/2011 8:23:38 AM PDT by reaganaut1
At a breakfast fund-raiser last year at the Liaison Capitol Hill hotel, former lobbyist Paul Equale pulled up a chair next to Sen. Richard Durbin. As they chatted, the Illinois Democrat told him about a recent breakthrough in his efforts to push through a bill to cap debit-card fees.
At a breakfast fund-raiser last year at the Liaison Capitol Hill hotel, former lobbyist Paul Equale pulled up a chair next to Sen. Richard Durbin. As they chatted, the Illinois Democrat told him about a recent breakthrough in his efforts to push through a bill to cap debit-card fees.
Some investment groups contract with lobbyists to pass along information they pick up during conversations with lawmakers, congressional aides and other government officials. "I have information from doing my day job as a lobbyist," explains one lobbyist. "That information has value on Wall Street. So I sell it."
Securities laws generally prohibit trading on the basis of material nonpublic information about public companies, if the person with access to the information has a duty to keep it secret. Expert networks that traffic in corporate information have attracted government scrutiny. Prosecutors have charged five consultants at Primary Global Research LLC, an expert-network firm in Mountain View, Calif., with violating those prohibitions.
Securities laws don't, however, bar most political insiders from sharing nonpublic information about government affairs. On the contrary, part of the job of lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists is to discuss policy options and pending legislation with anyone who might be considered an interested party. "A legislator normally talks to a lobbyist without any expectation that the information will be kept confidential," says Karl Groskaufmanis, a lawyer at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in Washington who focuses on securities regulations.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Utterly, thoroughly, irredeemably, corrupt.
It seems to me that Washington DC is the *wrong* place to go looking for intelligence.
“I an wary of efforts to ban trading based on political information because of 1st Amendment issues...”
If you mean freedom of speech, then why is insider trading considered criminal?
Durbin and crooks like him in government are leaking inside information tit for tat to get campaign contributions.
Congress has made this not punishable to protect its crooks, but passes laws to mess up the country’s financial system and make our US businesses less competitive against others due to piles of government mandated paper work or regulation compliance. Full employment for lawyers and accountants.
Members of congress and senators should be limited to two terms: one in office and one in jail !
I fully support your suggestion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.