Obama signs insider trading bill, wants more curbs on Congress

[Ecomike]

https://news.fidelity.com/news/news...MBINED_BRE83310N_1&cat=Top.Investing.RT&IMG=Y

Obama signs insider trading bill, wants more curbs on Congress

REUTERS — 1:31 PM ET 04/04/12
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for stricter controls on lawmakers to confront "the corrosive influence" of money in Washington as he signed into law an insider trading ban he said was needed to help restore trust in the U.S. government.
The Democrat, who is running for re-election in November, said the STOCK Act he signed at the White House made plain that members of Congress using non-public information to improve their personal investment portfolios were breaking the law.
Enforcement of the core stock trading disclosure provisions will begin in July.
He also called for more restrictions, saying lawmakers should not be allowed to own stocks in industries they have the power to affect and that people who bundle campaign funds for Congress should not be able to lobby elected representatives.
"The powerful shouldn't get to create one set of rules for themselves and another set of rules for everybody else," Obama said, linking the insider trading legislation to one of his key campaign themes: economic fairness.
"If we expect that to apply to our biggest corporations and to our most successful citizens, it certainly should apply to our elected officials, especially at a time when there is a deficit of trust between this city and the rest of the country," he said.
Obama has been seeking to distance himself from an unpopular and fractious Congress, where Republicans control the House of Representatives and his fellow Democrats have a majority in the Senate. He had called for a tightening of insider trading rules in his State of the Union address in January.
The STOCK Act, which passed the House in February and the Senate in March, specifies that Securities and Exchange Commission prohibitions against trading on non-public information applies to lawmakers and their staff members.
In November, a CBS "60 Minutes" show exposed questionable stock transactions by several members of Congress, including Republican House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican, said the bipartisan support of the insider trading legislation "shows that we can come together and deliver results for the American people."
(Reporting By Laura MacInnis; Editing by Vicki Allen)

 

[H8PVMT]

Awesome, too lazy to find the video montage someone made of them bragging it was legal for them to do

 

[kastein]

For once he does something that I can actually agree with. Bravo.

 

[bjoehandley]

Fantastic, I'm surprised it went through the senate and congress so quick though......

 

[kastein]

I think they realized the jig was up and that they would get burnt at the stake if they didn't vote for it.

 

[H8PVMT]

I still say get rid of most of them, did anyone vote against it? If so we should be able to arrest them on conspiracy to commit a felony

 

[kastein]

I'm completely down with "vote the bums out" these days.

 

[bjoehandley]

I think they realized the jig was up and that they would get burnt at the stake if they didn't vote for it.

Honestly, that should have been put in the bill as punishment for the crime.

 

[420BlackXJ]

This should have been done long ago.

 

[tbburg]

Isn't it funny that congress keeps having to pass laws and rules that make things illegal for themselves,..

that have been illegal for the rest of the country for years?

Yet somehow, they keep putting those little cravats in every new piece of legislation exempting themselves.

 

[5-90]

https://news.fidelity.com/news/news...MBINED_BRE83310N_1&cat=Top.Investing.RT&IMG=Y

He also called for more restrictions, saying lawmakers should not be allowed to own stocks in industries they have the power to affect and that people who bundle campaign funds for Congress should not be able to lobby elected representatives.

Isn't that pretty much any industry, then? If it's on NYSE or NASDAQ, Congress can have an affect of some variety...

"The powerful shouldn't get to create one set of rules for themselves and another set of rules for everybody else," Obama said, linking the insider trading legislation to one of his key campaign themes: economic fairness.

Then make O-care, Medicare, and Social Security apply to them as well.

"If we expect that to apply to our biggest corporations and to our most successful citizens, it certainly should apply to our elected officials, especially at a time when there is a deficit of trust between this city and the rest of the country," he said.

The "deficit of trust" is also borne of the disconnect between Washington and the rest of the US in daily life. They keep passing laws & rules, but have no idea what the end effects are (if they even bother to think about it) or how it's going to screw the rest of the country over - which is probably why they keep exempting themselves.

Obama has been seeking to distance himself from an unpopular and fractious Congress, where Republicans control the House of Representatives and his fellow Democrats have a majority in the Senate. He had called for a tightening of insider trading rules in his State of the Union address in January.

The President's primary job is to unify the country - not engender race wars or continually behave in a fractious manner. Doesn't matter who he's trying to separate from who (black/white, white/non-white, rich/poor, Washington/everyone else, ...) divisiveness is not what's supposed to come out of the White House. And he's been doing it since he got there (and probably longer, it's been some time since I reviewed his record in IL and the Senate.)

The STOCK Act, which passed the House in February and the Senate in March, specifies that Securities and Exchange Commission prohibitions against trading on non-public information applies to lawmakers and their staff members.

"STOCK Act?" Who the Hell does all of these acronyms and backronyms, and how much are we overpaying him? Methinks more effort goes into drumming up a catchy little title for the laws than goes into the laws proper...

I've found it interesting how a freshman Representative, making $100,000/year (I forget the exact amount,) can finish his first term as a millionaire if he wasn't when he was elected. That, friends, is a problem.

Don't get me started on term limits, elected retirement, or any other such nonsense like that - that's fuel for separate discussions...

 

[5-90]

I think they realized the jig was up and that they would get burnt at the stake if they didn't vote for it.

Burned at the stake, hung, drawn, quartered, tarred, feathered, run out of town on a rail, boiled in their own juices - and that will give me time to think of something properly nasty to do.

"Spirit of '76 - Re-elect Nobody!"

I honestly don't see why anyone should be able to serve more than two terms in a given office - but look at Joe Biden. Went from City Council (I think) to the Senate for 36 years, then to VPOTUS.

Ted Kennedy, the Massachusetts Erection, did something like 45 years in Senate.

And Obama - "Harvard Law Professor" - has he ever practised as a lawyer? Argued any cases? Put his J.D. to actual use? I somehow think not...

@ttburg - I think the word you were looking for was "caveats", not "cravats." A "cravat" is a neck scarf...:read:

 

[tbburg]

@ttburg - I think the word you were looking for was "caveats", not "cravats." A "cravat" is a neck scarf...:read:

Oops. 'Wasn't paying attention to the spell checker.

 

[5-90]

Oops. 'Wasn't paying attention to the spell checker.

Just tryin' to help, that all...:shhh:

 

[XJEEPER]

However, the use of a tightly bound cravat is applicable to the subject of treason........

 

[Ecomike]

I think they realized the jig was up and that they would get burnt at the stake if they didn't vote for it.

I agree, especially with it being election season.

 

[5-90]

However, the use of a tightly bound cravat is applicable to the subject of treason........

True - but let's not get started on that...