{"id":1413690,"date":"2022-03-31T17:59:39","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T21:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1413690"},"modified":"2022-03-31T17:59:46","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T21:59:46","slug":"heres-how-members-of-congress-use-inside-information-to-make-millions-on-the-stock-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heres-how-members-of-congress-use-inside-information-to-make-millions-on-the-stock-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s How Members Of Congress Use Inside Information To Make Millions On The Stock Market"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fheres-how-members-of-congress-use-inside-information-to-make-millions-on-the-stock-market%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1413690&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/v2_Congressional-inside-trading-ban-piece.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Members of congress are elected to serve the American people \u2014 at least, that\u2019s their job description. But it would seem that many of our elected officials use their positions, and the information their offices afford them, to wield the power of the stock market in their favor \u2014 profiting heavily by beating the American people to the punch on the best stock market trades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In America today, some of the most successful and prodigious inside traders are walking the halls of Congress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Just last year, Congress looked very much like a Wall Street trading desk. 113 congress members, and their families, made an estimated $355 million worth of stock trades at home and abroad. And more often than not, their portfolios swelled with each trade. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When looking at the trading history of our elected officials, there seem to be two possibilities: either our politicians are brilliant traders with a prescient understanding of the stock market\u2026 or they\u2019re trading on inside information unavailable to the public.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Here are just a few examples of some trades that would seem to imply the latter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On March 19, 2021, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/pelosi-husband-bought-microsoft-shares-options\"><span>bought<\/span><\/a><span> up to $3 million in Microsoft stock. It just so happens that 12 days later, Microsoft announced they\u2019d secured a $22 billion contract with the U.S. military. And wouldn\u2019t you know it, that $3 million purchase reaped massive dividends? According to Nasdaq, she\u2019s now up <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/an-overview-of-congressional-trading-in-2021\"><span>160<\/span><\/a><span>% on that purchase.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On October 22, Representative Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina, bought up to $30,000 worth of Lockheed Martin Stock. Two weeks later, it was announced that Lockheed had secured a $10 billion deal with the military to modernize the F-22, and Lockheed\u2019s stock soared. The American people are supposed to believe that her position on the\u00a0House Committee On Foreign Affairs, which is often in the know on such deals, had <em>nothing<\/em>\u00a0to do with the decision to make that trade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-members-are-trading-defense-stocks-while-shaping-military-policy-2021-12\"><span>June<\/span><\/a><span>, Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, sold up to $15,000 in Microsoft stocks. It just so happens that two weeks later, Microsoft\u2019s $10 billion contract with the Department of Defense was canceled and their price plummeted. Again, the American people are to simply believe that he got lucky and pulled out right before the stock fell. (His spot on the Senate Armed Services Committee <em>may<\/em>\u00a0have helped make him even luckier.) <\/span><span>House Republican Pat Fallon also happened to sell up to $250,000 in Microsoft stock right before that billion dollar contract fell through. Fallon, I might add, sits on the House subcommittee that oversees\u2026 Defense software contracts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California, bought up to $15,000 in Lucid electric vehicle stock, right before she co-sponsored a bill offering tax credits for\u2026 electric vehicles. And wouldn\u2019t you know it, since then that stock has gone up 71%?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Either our politicians are brilliant economic minds with an uncanny ability to predict market outcomes and sell at <\/span><i><span>just <\/span><\/i><span>the right time. Or, they\u2019re profiting off of information that\u2019s available to them, but not us ordinary people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>All of those, shall we say unusual trades, have gotten the attention of the general public, and now as outrage is building, so too are the calls for new legislation to ban members from trading individual stocks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Now you might be saying, aren\u2019t there already laws on the books to prevent members from inside trading? Yes, technically.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (or STOCK Act), was passed overwhelmingly in 2012 to deter any member of congress from stock trading with insider knowledge. And what is the penalty for violating the STOCK Act, you might ask? Essentially, a whopping $200 fine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The STOCK Act technically\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/u-s-lawmakers-traded-an-estimated-355-million-of-stock-last-year-these-were-the-biggest-buyers-and-sellers-11643639354\"><span>requires<\/span><\/a><span> members to file disclosures and detail financial transactions over $1,000. Members have a 45-day grace period to report transactions involving stocks or other securities to the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Those who are late to report are supposed to pay a late fee of $200 the first time, with fines increasing if their tardiness continues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But that hasn\u2019t exactly deterred members from the practice. In fact, 57 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-stock-act-violations-senate-house-trading-2021-9\"><span>members<\/span><\/a><span> and 182 senior-level <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-staff-violated-stock-act-conflicts-of-interest-possible-2021-12\"><span>staffers <\/span><\/a><span>on both sides of the aisle recently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-stock-act-violations-senate-house-trading-2021-9\"><span>violated<\/span><\/a><span> the law, offering excuses ranging from ignorance to clerical errors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Former <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-stock-act-violations-penalties-consequences-2021-12\"><span>staffers<\/span><\/a><span> say there\u2019s virtually no enforcement of the STOCK Act, and no public records currently track who is guilty of a violation and who paid the fines. There\u2019s been no confirmation of non-public records of the sort either. So basically, it\u2019s an honor system where members are expected to self-report.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>An honor system is hardly the way to police a group of people in a profession known for corruption and self-enrichment at the expense of average people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The lack of transparency surrounding who faces consequences for violations leaves the public almost completely in the dark and renders the STOCK Act a mere virtue signal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Three in four voters <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/news\/588630-76-percent-of-voters-support-banning-lawmakers-from-trading-stocks-poll\"><span>agree<\/span><\/a><span> that members of Congress should be banned from trading individual stocks while in office, and as a result, multiple bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, though they differ in levels of punishment and specifics on who should be restricted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One of the stricter bills was introduced in January by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and includes the legislators\u2019 spouses and dependent children in the restrictions. All must put their stocks and investment assets into a blind trust managed by a neutral party while in office. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/press-releases\/sens-ossoff-kelly-introduce-bill-banning-stock-trading-by-members-of-congress\/\"><span>punishment<\/span><\/a><span> for those in violation of the act would be a fine equal to the amount of the member\u2019s entire salary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Republican Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has introduced a similar bill called the Banning Insider Trading In Congress Act, which would have largely the same effect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So why is this pressure building now, when the problem clearly goes back years? One potential reason for the fresh fury is senators who were widely criticized for dumping millions in stocks before the COVID pandemic sunk the stock market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>High-profile investigations of Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), then chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), whose husband is the chair of the New York Stock Exchange, and former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) for trades timed a little too well during the advent of the pandemic have sparked new calls for legislation. In early 2020, while Americans were losing their jobs and businesses, some senators were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/3\/20\/21188144\/senators-dumping-stock-as-market-tanks\"><span>raking in millions<\/span><\/a><span> from the stock market, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of their constituents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Burr\u2019s sudden stock <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/3\/20\/21188144\/senators-dumping-stock-as-market-tanks\"><span>sell-off<\/span><\/a><span> came February 13 in 33 separate transactions to the tune of up to $1.7 million, just days before the market tumbled. This followed Burr publicly expressing confidence in the U.S.\u2019 pandemic response. He tweeted on March 20 that he relied solely on \u201cpublic news reports\u201d to guide his decision to sell. Burr was also one of three senators who voted against the STOCK Act in 2012 when there was an abundance of evidence that members of Congress were profiting from insider trading through the early 2000s \u2014 something quite difficult to prove.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Loeffler\u2019s sell-offs, worth up to $3.1 million, began January 24, the same day the Senate Health Committee, of which she was a member, gave an all-member briefing on COVID. She tweeted on March 19 that she doesn\u2019t make investment decisions for her portfolio and wasn\u2019t aware of the sell-off until two weeks after.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Jim Inhofe also reported large trades around the same time, though they also deny it was related to COVID. Inhofe, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, sold up to $750,000 worth of stocks, crediting it to a \u201ccontinuing divestiture plan.\u201d Feinstein, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, reported stock sell-offs in the millions, which she said were done by her husband.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nearly 75 lawmakers bought or sold stocks in COVID-19 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/lawmakers-bought-sold-covid-19-related-stocks-during-pandemic-2021-12\"><span>vaccine manufacturers<\/span><\/a><span> Moderna, Johnson &#038; Johnson and Pfizer during the early weeks of the pandemic. Fifteen lawmakers responsible for shaping U.S. defense policy actively invest in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-members-are-trading-defense-stocks-while-shaping-military-policy-2021-12\"><span>military contractors<\/span><\/a><span>. More than a dozen Democrats concerned with climate change invest in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-democrats-with-fossil-fuel-stocks-investments-2021-12\"><span>fossil fuel companies<\/span><\/a><span>.\u00a0<\/span><span>Sixteen members have stock in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/congress-tobacco-stocks-philip-morris-altria-vaping-cigarettes-2021-12\"><span>tobacco companies<\/span><\/a><span>, some of whom publicly fight smoking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The evidence seems ample and apparent. Those elected to serve the American people are using inside information to beat the public on stock market trades. It\u2019s an inherently unfair scheme, and amounts to no less than insider trading. It\u2019s time Congress puts the trust of the American people before lining their own pockets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Members of congress are elected to serve the American people \u2014 at least, that\u2019s their job description. But it would seem that many of our elected officials use their positions,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1413690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1413690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1413690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1413690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1413690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}