Posted on 11/13/2011 9:17:35 PM PST by Bigtigermike
While examining trades made around the time of the 2003 Medicare overhaul, Schweizer experienced what he calls his “Holy crap!” moment. The legislation, which created a new prescription-drug entitlement, promised to be a huge boon to the pharmaceutical industry—and to savvy investors in the Capitol. Among those with special insight on the issue was Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the health subcommittee of the Senate’s powerful Finance Committee.
Kerry is one of the wealthiest members of the Senate and heavily invested in the stock market. As the final version of the drug program neared approval—one that didn’t include limits on the price of drugs—brokers for Kerry and his wife were busy trading in Big Pharma. Schweizer found that they completed 111 stock transactions of pharmaceutical companies in 2003, 103 of which were buys.
[....]
Washington does seem to live by its own laws of economics. The D.C. metro area has displaced Silicon Valley as home of the highest median income, at $84,523 last year (compared with the national average of $50,046). A Roll Call study of congressional financial disclosures revealed that the net worth of members of Congress had grown by 25 percent since 2008, during a period in which the average American household has lost as much as 20% [....]
“I was troubled,” he says, “by the fact that the political elite gets to play by a different set of rules than the rest of us. In the process of researching this book, I came to the conclusion that political party and political philosophy matter a lot less than we think. Washington is a company town, and politics is a business. People wonder why we don’t get more change in Washington, and the reason is that the permanent political class is very comfortable. Business is good.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
If Schweizer’s book is credible, elected Democrats, Republicans and some very wealthy investors have been “legally” ripping off the American public for years, contributing (as I see it) to a dramatic increase in the numbers of financially poor people.
This book (with it's investigative pieces) has the appearance of having legs. Already, Media Matters is in full attack mode. Now, why would that be?
Related;
Occupy Congress (and the White House)!
They nailed four Republicans and one Democrat on CBS from this book.
If they want to see how it is really done, read the biography I wrote on Harry Reid. http://www.futurnamics.com/reid.php
I couldn’t get diddly worth of support (Freepers excluded), but I go into deals worth Billions for Friends of reid (see City Center, see DesertXpress, etc.).
Maybe CBS will take a look now. Ha!
It’s time they brought this out. We have been yelling slush funds for quite some time now.
I remember Harry on the Gaming Board. He was sleazy then. He made my skin crawl.
Some real patriots had better Occupy Dee Cee soon.
Down with Permanent Career Politicians.
Make members of congress live by insider rules. They need to disclose all their stock transactions immediately and they should be frozen out of transaction except in designated windows.
Two words. Term limits.
Sounds like there is going to be a coordinated effort to get this info out and to get people so pissed off that we do throw as many out of office as we can. Should FR get coordinated on this site or on Twitter, please put me in the loop. This could be the start of the “sudden and relentless reform” that we are all waiting for. We have to do our part.
Title: EXCLUSIVE: Financial Documents Suggest GOP Rep. Bachus Profited from ‘Insider Trading’ on TARP Bailout
FYI, Good stuff here. Perhaps to your ping list? The info is going to be hit hard on Breitbart and talk shows.
They’re going to have a tough time taking all of that ill-gained wealth to hell with them.
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