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Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

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Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#31

Post by throwaway2331 »

revscat wrote: post #22

We will see a black hole evaporate via Hawking radiation before a bill such as this becomes law. The United States Senate is the body representing the capitalists/landed gentry/aristocracy/etc., and from my amateur reading of US history it always has been. The House is only slightly better. There may be politically powerful voices which speak out on issues such as these, but only briefly. Tomorrow will be a new crisi…

Seems like the only way to enact "real" change is to convince the propertied class that such changes are within their interests (and have them pull the strings in a mutually-beneficial way).

I cannot think of anything the lower classes can offer that would be of any substance -- only things they can take away by force to impel the other to meet "eye to eye."

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#32

Post by csee »

rolobio wrote: post #3
Bostonian wrote: post #2

As I've said before, publish the trades of politicians and Fed officials online every evening. If they make hundreds of millions trading on information the public is unaware of, disseminate that information quickly. Politicians say things they know are untrue, but they will trade in what they perceive to be their interests. "Some of the most egregious stock trading in Congress occurred when several Senators dumped la…

Sounds great. Could we also start some sort of Index fund using those trades? Congress seems to have some fantastic returns I would like to tap into!

Side effect would be that this would help them make even more money, due to lots of money following their trades after they have entered the position, and it would create pump and dump incentives.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#33

Post by gkoberger »

zw123456 wrote: post #21

CEO's and officers of corporations have to disclose their trades of their company stock. It is only fair that the public officials making the laws that govern the operations of said corporations should have to disclose all their stock activities as well, since almost any law they pass could potentially impact almost any company.

This is already the law. Since the "Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012", they already have to disclose any stock trades made by themselves, a spouse or a dependent.

Because this hasn't fixed the issue, and most don't seem to have any shame, these recent laws (originally coming from Ds but Rs have their own version) prevent them from trading individual stocks while in office.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#35

Post by gweinberg »

kej wrote: post #13
kupopuffs wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how? It's one senator saying this....

The headline can be interpreted as "Members of Congress should not themselves be day trading" or as "Congress should enact legislation to prevent everyone from day trading". The article is clearly the first one, but the headline could be read either way.

I think the second reading is more natural. The title should be "congressmen need to stop day trading".

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#36

Post by jakelazaroff »

ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

Let's say we increased that salary by 10x. Why would they not simply continue their lucrative conflict of interest side gig on top of the lucrative salary they make? The potential gains from trading on insider information are greater if you have more money to invest!

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#37

Post by dudus »

panny wrote: post #15
Bostonian wrote: post #2

As I've said before, publish the trades of politicians and Fed officials online every evening. If they make hundreds of millions trading on information the public is unaware of, disseminate that information quickly. Politicians say things they know are untrue, but they will trade in what they perceive to be their interests. "Some of the most egregious stock trading in Congress occurred when several Senators dumped la…

>As I've said before, publish the trades of politicians and Fed officials online every evening. If they make hundreds of millions trading on information the public is unaware of, disseminate that information quickly. Then Senator Jackass dumps stock on Monday to crash it and picks it back up for a song on Tuesday.

Wouldn't that be a wash trade?

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#38

Post by [deleted] »

iamleppert wrote: post #30

How is it acceptable for them to engage in these activities while on the job? It should be illegal based upon their job duties. During office hours, and while at the office, like everyone else, they should be required to carry out their job duties and not engage in personal or outside activities. Trading stocks and the like has nothing to do with their job and should not be done while at your job. If a congress perso…

[deleted]

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#39

Post by sumedh »

gamerDude wrote: post #20
TheDong wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a slight improvement to your idea. Instead of publishing the trades after, or as they make them, instead publish them before they make them. Require any congress-person who wishes to trade a stock to write a plan saying "I will buy/sell roughly this many dollars worth of these shares on this date", and require the plan to be published a week before the trade is executed. We already require CEOs and company o…

When I worked in a financial trading firm, I had to submit trades that I would make 3 days before hand and then get them approved to make sure I had no relationship to that stock. The same seems fine with me for any government official. Make a trade request, gets published publicly, a legal body reviews and allows or denies.

> a legal body reviews and allows or denies.

Who will be the members of the legal body?

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#40

Post by [deleted] »

zw123456 wrote: post #21

CEO's and officers of corporations have to disclose their trades of their company stock. It is only fair that the public officials making the laws that govern the operations of said corporations should have to disclose all their stock activities as well, since almost any law they pass could potentially impact almost any company.

[deleted]
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