do I really have to say it???
Posted on 11/13/2011 5:15:19 PM PST by Morpheus2009
(CBS News)
Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information - but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it's time for the law to change.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Oh, and Peter Schweizer is one of Sarah Palin’s most trusted advisors.
I have given up on the concept of politicians changing anything. It is time to clean house with principled businessmen instead of a group of attorneys who gave up on making a killing in a court room.
Unless the real threat of being voted out of office floats overhead like the sword of damocles, change does not happen, and the politicians get away. If a citizens’ movement, and I mean a real movement, with leadership, and principles, gets knocking on the doors in D.C., we could probably get a move toward a real bill, oh yeah, and find decent legal advice, too. For starters, the former Washington Congressman from the sixty minutes clip needs to be questioned thoroughly about his past effort at a bill.
I should have been more concise.
Maybe with so many Tea Party Congressmen something finally may be done after the 2012 election.
Even moreso, Pelosi and her husband bought out a whole load of Stock shares on the VISA credit card distributor back in 2009, you know, when Obama promised he would offer debt forgiveness to people up to their necks in credit card debt, and that the credit card companies were totally to blame? Well they used the delays and a few edits in the bill to buy and sell, as well as profit, on shares of VISA™ Stocks, when the final credit card legislation came out, Obama’s glaring demagogue words weren’t out, and it was more lenient than the original, by a stretch. Essentially, VISA leveraged the legislation through stock options, from a congresswoman who said she was “so progressive” and “looking out for the poor”. What’s sad is that plenty of individuals might not getting around to see this episode of 60 Minutes, much less care.
Shouldn’t all these insider-trading bums be in Leavenworth? Yes...but they will either retire in splendor or be carried out feet first (leaving their family very wealthy). Isn’t that just disgusting?
Well they can be voted out, but I heard they VOTED themselves immunity against being prosecuted for insider trading, etc. Ugh.
No wonder we in flyover country feel like we are being run by those who consider themselves elites; THEY ARE! I will be eagerly awaiting the names!!!!
do I really have to say it???
It’s rumored they shoot officials in China for manipulating markets for the sake of friends who give kickbacks.
This is a different mechanism, but equally rotten. A lot of people are going to be surprised “Oh, is this still allowed?”
Then Democrats will play the hero, coming up with a bill that supposedly bans it, but at the same time greases a lot of other liberal skids. The House will balk at the mix, and the fickle finger of blame will jab at the GOP.
The term “corrupt politicians” has come to mean “that goes without saying”. My concern is more about ending corruption and cronyism than politics or changing ideology. The most important qualification of a government and candidate is honesty.
They all claim to work for us when they work for their own bank account and for those who pay them lots of money. Until we demand honesty and are willing to criticize all including those in our own political party, this is never going to change. It’s a tribalist thing where those in the same tribe are given a pass, while others are not. That’s what needs to end.
How can Congress justify one rule for them and another for those who are forced to pay their exorbitant wages and benefits. How many have gone to prison for insider trading?
The scary part is, 60 Minutes possibly only touched the tip of the iceberg on this matter. The presidents of the United States may have also engaged in trading stocks with enhanced information from Congressional hearings as well. This corruption can go way deeper than Congress. The biggest thing that irritates me, and should irritate about anyone, is the fact that people in the Federal Government are making money while a good number of your average everyday people are struggling to either be employed at all, or simply finding employment that isn’t temporary, as is often the case for accounting work.
I agree, plenty of corporate individuals have gone to prison or had to pay some money for insider trading. I do agree, it is sort of tribal in giving some of the same group a free pass, but I am thankful for the fact that this is one of the few cases in which your average network TV program actually made a decent attempt at levelling bipartisan blame here by going after both former speaker Pelosi as well as John Boehner for being influenced in their legislative decisions by their stock options. That’s one issue I give at least this particular episode and it’s authors credit for.
The sad part is that both our Congress, and by implication, our president, right now argue to care about getting us back to better employment rates when they are enriching their own accounts.
I agree, the path to ending corruption must be non-partisan. Sixty Minutes and Steve Kroft did a good job.
Society must never look the other way because of politics. The problem has become that the enforcers look the other way, so we the people need to hold their feet to the fire. I just wrote Boehner, Pelosi, 2- Senators and Congressman with my feelings on it.
Corruption is destroying our belief in honest government. Once it takes hold and is accepted policy like in 3rd world countries, it’s a scourge that’s impossible to eradicate.
BTW if you haven’t seen the documentary movie “Inside Job” it is worth a watch about the corruption that led to the financial manipulations that gave us our great recession in 2008. My neighbor who owns a very successful US manufacturing company and is far from liberal, gave me his copy to watch. He first rented one, then bought his own copy because he wanted to re-watch it. It trashes them all Greenspan, etc, from before Bush to Obama, because they trashed us.
Thanks for mentioning “Inside Job” liberal or not, it sounds like a film worth watching, especially if it is as retroactive in it’s account as you make it out to be. Again, thinking backwards is key here, especially when the effects of the recession are extensive. After all, behind a great tree often lies great roots, behind a crisis lies a series of preceding events.
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