NY Post Editorial Board: Our Alphabet Soup Regulatory Overlords Are Finally (Sort Of) Cracking Down on Shady Trades

The fight to stop insider trading Federal officials may Be out of neutral Agencies across the board are starting to better scrutinize — and who knows, maybe even punish! — Employees make rash financial decisions.  

All that was required was a The Wall Street Journal’s massive, shameful investigation, revealing that feds had direct financial interests in industries and sectors they were supposed to be regulating — everything from Microsoft to corn and soybean futures. 

These actions were widespread: more than 2,600 federal officials invested in companies through their agencies. Five agencies had sixty-plus reports on trades in companies Right Before these agencies took enforcement actions against them. 

That’s no coincidence. It’s the sign of a rotten institutional culture allowed to flourish through nod-and-winking at the law. 

Even more concerning are the almost 3,000 (!!!) short sales. A senior policy analyst at Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., married to an employee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, made short sales. And The (at minimum) seven year gap between stock trade disclosures and clearances by officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Commerce Department patent judge granted a victory for Google While the company was employed His wife. 

Yes, it seems like a lot. “public servants” (i.e. (i.e. 

And that’s to say nothing of the much larger problem. This kind of shady behavior can undermine any trust in government. Why should we trust government when powerful regulators can make their own money? Anyone Respect Any Is it law or rules?

Now, these agencies are trying their best to eliminate crooks in their ranks. This is because they have been inspired by journalism and not the tongue-bath regulatory enforcers that major media get. That’s good(ish) news, but it still leaves a major question unanswered. 

Who watches the watchers, then? 

Theoretically there are rules Already To stop malfeasance, they are in place all over Alphabet City. But they are clearly too lax — as is enforcement. 

For example, the SEC trade-obfuscator got a seven-day suspension. The CFTC short-selling husband was not affected, even though such trades are Clearly forbidden to spouses by the agency’s own rules. 

The recent steps to observe and act are a small step towards this goal. However, if you have a vision of a world in which men and women make the rules, You have to live by obey them themselves, don’t hold your breath. (And don’t get us started on Congress.)