Members of Congress Exempt From Insider Trading Rules

Meet freshman Republican Rep. Richard Hanna. He may own up to 20 million dollars in a freight rail company called CSX. Richard Hanna is also on the House committee that deals with transportation. Conflict of interest? Well, it gets worse. Hanna also owns a construction company which he’s made millions on. Well guess what the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee also get’s to oversee? you guessed it, construction. So how would one make money in this game of corporate governance? It’s quite simple really. As a member of a committee you receive first hand knowledge about various contracts, upcoming legislation, possible regulation, etc.. All of this information is extremely useful to those in the stock market since stock prices ebb and flow as different factors occur. So let’s say a member on the committee becomes aware that a new regulation is going to be put on railroad spikes. This could create construction on some of the railroads, possibly slowing shipping time along a certain route. Now let’s say that your freight company has a different method of picking up the slack as the rail lines slow. You could get foreknowledge of all of this by being a member of the committee and then you would tell your broker this information so the necessary adjustments are made. This is illegal in all other places, but of course, not in government. Anyone who doesn’t become a multi-millionaire while serving in Congress doing insider trading has to be a complete idiot. You wouldn’t even to have any knowledge of how the market operates, you just need to come in with a lot of money (86% of Congress are Millionaires) and then you simply tell your broker what’s coming down the pipeline and to move the money around so you get even richer :) If you want to be a little bit dirtier than you ease restrictions and government oversight on the companies that you own. So in this case with Hanna being a man who’s made all of his money in freight companies being on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is really quite perfect. Those who are supposed to oversee the industries are actually the owners of the industries which they are supposed to regulate. It’s no wonder that corporations routinely get cover from both Democrats and Republicans as they ship jobs out of the US, avoid paying taxes, and create a more globalized world. Of course these same politicians receive literally millions of dollars of bribes which come in the form of campaign contributions. You’d think that the Republicans are the party of corporations but the Democrats actually receive about the same (albeit from different corporate interests). In the czech republic leaders are called corrupt when they are found out to have ties to corporate interests. In America the idea of bribing politicians is so ingrained in our understanding of the democratic process that I don’t think it could even hold an election without it. Campaigns and getting a message out are synonymous with taking millions of dollars from corporations and pennies from the plebeians. One has to buy airtime and pay multimillion dollar spin doctors to create and manage a brand identity.

Now. Things seem pretty bleak eh? The fact that government is nothing but a collusion of corporate millionaires acting as if they are fighting for the will of the people while continously giving breaks to those who will make them the most money. They’re mostly frauds of course. But remember that a different alternative exists. Imagine a publicly funded campaign, each politician gets a maximum of $100,000 . If they spend more than that they are disqualified. There will be multiple debates. Each lasting at least 90 minutes, and the debates will be broadcast throughout the country on Public Broadcasting Services or CSPAN . Politicians will no longer be allowed to take any money from special interest groups. They will not be allowed to serve on committees which oversee the very industries they own. They will no longer receive government health care and a pension for life. They will get to serve a maximum of 8 years, and then they’re gone. During their time in Congress they will receive a salary more in line with an average American. A man can dream can’t he?