From the outside looking in, it looks very bad. That being said, I am not convinced it is 100% accurate. The first person to talk about it was a felon Jack Abrahmoff who is still pissed that he actually got jail time for all his crimes. Also you have to deal with the way financial disclosures are labeled. A member of Congress (MoC) does not give an exact amount but a range. So one could have an investment that is in the $0-$10,000 range and the next year have the same investment in the $10,001 to $500,000 range. So it could be an increase of $490,000 or $1. I am also going to rant about how they generalize that wealth in Congress has dramatically increased in the last decade. While this is true, it is completely misleading. Vern Buchanan, who is one of the 5 richest members, replaced Katherine Harris within those 10 years, so the wealth changed dramatically but not because anyone profited. When reading articles about these things please keep an open mind.
There is no law that says that a MoC can invest in a company/industry that they have oversight responsibility on. Honestly, since a member has oversight over everything, they would not be able to invest in anything.
That being said, Congress is very good at exempting themselves from the laws they create. Try to FOIA a congressional office, it is impossible since you can't FOIA us.
3 comments:
From the outside looking in, it looks very bad. That being said, I am not convinced it is 100% accurate. The first person to talk about it was a felon Jack Abrahmoff who is still pissed that he actually got jail time for all his crimes. Also you have to deal with the way financial disclosures are labeled. A member of Congress (MoC) does not give an exact amount but a range. So one could have an investment that is in the $0-$10,000 range and the next year have the same investment in the $10,001 to $500,000 range. So it could be an increase of $490,000 or $1.
I am also going to rant about how they generalize that wealth in Congress has dramatically increased in the last decade. While this is true, it is completely misleading. Vern Buchanan, who is one of the 5 richest members, replaced Katherine Harris within those 10 years, so the wealth changed dramatically but not because anyone profited.
When reading articles about these things please keep an open mind.
so MoC can or cannot legally make trades based on inside knowledge of the industries that they regulate?
also, does this mean i won't be getting any scoops from you ;)?
There is no law that says that a MoC can invest in a company/industry that they have oversight responsibility on. Honestly, since a member has oversight over everything, they would not be able to invest in anything.
That being said, Congress is very good at exempting themselves from the laws they create. Try to FOIA a congressional office, it is impossible since you can't FOIA us.
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