by Smitty
Via Big Government we have a throwaway remark from senior #OccupyDC member #OccupyResoluteDesk:
On Tuesday night, the president spoke in no uncertain terms: “Send me a bill that bans insider trading by Members of Congress, and I will sign it tomorrow,” he said. “Let’s limit any elected official from owning stock in industries they impact.” The remarks were cause for celebration for Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer, who authored a 2011 book exposing Congressional insider trading, and 60 Minutes, which ran a widely-viewed segment based on his book (CBS quicklyuploaded the portion of the speech last night). But early reactions from Congress (Republicans and Democrats) shouldn’t encourage much optimism.
And what did the star of Chapter 2 of Throw Them All Out have to say to BHO’s piffle?
“Easier said than done is my reaction,” Democratic Rep. Jim Moran tells Politico’s Manu Raju on the subject of restricting officials from owning stock they could impact. “Unless you are fairly precise about it, you can conceivably influence almost any corporation.”
You’ve got to go, Mr. Moran. You view Americans as sheep, and yourself as the shearer, judging by your actions.
Patrick Murray for Congress
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In this case, I actually agree with Gentleman Jim. Our existing insider trading laws are FUBAR, IMHO. This would just add new layers of WTF.
Having said that, I suspect that I come to that opinion for a different reason than GJM. Since he’s firmly in the “There Ought To Be A Law” camp, I do not doubt that he’s motivated by self preservation.
Once again, we have a proposal to get at a symptom, but not a cause. The problem is the amount of influence that Congress has on companies. That they are able to profit from it personally, I do not think we can stop, even with the most bestest insider trading laws possible. So I don’t believe that taking this particular route to enrichment will, in the end, change much of anything, aside from requiring some new bureaucracy to monitor this sort of thing.
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