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Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

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Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#71

Post by vinceguidry »

ksec wrote: post #58
jchanimal wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think is standard practice at larger firms in the banking industry, it should be for government as well.

Not just in banking industry but many other Finance or Legal industry as well. Pretty much standard practice.

Why would this solve the problem? They're still incentivized to make decisions on behalf of the nation in their own financial interests. The conflict of interest in the financial industry is with the companies they work with and for. For lawmakers it's with the whole country. They should absolutely not be allowed to benefit personally from legislating.

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#72

Post by roflyear »

ccppurcell wrote: post #23
_ea1k wrote: post #4

In practice, how would this work? A requirement that they only use index funds? But then wouldn't that bias them to support the companies that are the major movers in that index? Indexes are often heavily weighted to a small subset after all. TBH, it seems like an idea that sounds good on the surface but has practical issues in implementation that would make it irrelevant

How about they do their jobs, and put off making money in other ways till after their term ends. Maybe they can buy government bonds.

Honestly, congress salaries (not considering insider trading!!!) are really low. They're lower than many software dev salaries, and they generally have to have two homes (someplace to sleep in DC at least + their home in their district).

I think if we raised salaries your sentiment could work, but good luck with that.

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#73

Post by ckardat123 »

smcin wrote: post #51
ckardat123 wrote: post #39

I started building out tools to track congressional stock trading in 2020. Since then, I believe there have been 9 other proposals similar to this one. None of them have been even called to a vote. It seem like Congress is pretty unwilling to regulate its own trading. Until they are, feel free to track the trading here: https://www.quiverquant.com/congresstrading/

Sen Cynthia Loomis (R-WY) [EDIT: 'Lummis'] doesn't show up on the list (for stocks), is she still the biggest crypto trader? https://www.marketwatch.com/story/congresss-crypto-traders-t...

The list on the homepage just shows recent transactions.

You can search for individuals on top to see their full transaction list. Lummis bought up to $100K of Bitcoin in 2021: https://www.quiverquant.com/congresstrading/politician/Cynth...

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#74

Post by PartiallyTyped »

ckardat123 wrote: post #39

I started building out tools to track congressional stock trading in 2020. Since then, I believe there have been 9 other proposals similar to this one. None of them have been even called to a vote. It seem like Congress is pretty unwilling to regulate its own trading. Until they are, feel free to track the trading here: https://www.quiverquant.com/congresstrading/

Unusualwhales (not affiliated) does that too!

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#75

Post by roflyear »

marktucker wrote: post #67
lesuorac wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or perhaps the salary of congress critters /etc should be significantly higher than it is. Is the CEO of Tesla (~50B ?) really more impactful than the US president (~400k/yr) ?

What amount of money do you think you'd have to pay them in order for them to say "Yeah, that's enough. I'm not going to use my position to my advantage."?

Well, I dunno, but we should expect them to make executive-level pay, IMO. "The average Chief Financial Officer salary in the United States is $429,392 as of June 26, 2023" seems fair.

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#76

Post by amalcon »

BurningFrog wrote: post #47
_lb0d wrote: post #14

My wife works in the audit department of a bank. I'm heavily regulated by the SEC on what stocks, ETFs, mutual funds I can buy/sell. An internal group monitors my buying/selling and makes approval/denial before I can do so. I have to hold an ETF for 1 month before I can sell it--not that I should be swing trading ETFs, but still. It's very frustrating at times, especially when I'm relegated to using just her bank's t…

I can't think of any other situation when one person getting a job puts legal obligations on their spouse, but I haven't looked into it.

Your spouse can definitely affect your ability to get a security clearance. Last I heard, cannabis use is still relevant to this, even if you live in a state where it's legal. Your spouse being a foreign national can also be significant, depending on which country and their connections there.

It's not really a legal obligation as such ("only" putting the job at risk), but it does cover rather a lot of jobs.

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#77

Post by Brian_K_White »

grog454 wrote: post #43
_lb0d wrote: post #14

My wife works in the audit department of a bank. I'm heavily regulated by the SEC on what stocks, ETFs, mutual funds I can buy/sell. An internal group monitors my buying/selling and makes approval/denial before I can do so. I have to hold an ETF for 1 month before I can sell it--not that I should be swing trading ETFs, but still. It's very frustrating at times, especially when I'm relegated to using just her bank's t…

Why? What kinds of things might you be able to do through your wife that require all this scrutiny?

The wife may be privy to the banks customers activities, and the husband must be considered privy to all the same, simply by proximity regardless of her honesty or intent.

The wife may have knowledge about $bigco buying or selling $bigthing, and the husband may gain that same knowledge from her, even if she's honest and never intentionally disclosed it. (people aren't perfect and clues can slip, or he simply has access to her laptop or that scratch pad where she wrote down the essentials of a phone call etc.

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#78

Post by respondo2134 »

lesuorac wrote: post #28
ccppurcell wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about they do their jobs, and put off making money in other ways till after their term ends. Maybe they can buy government bonds.

Or perhaps the salary of congress critters /etc should be significantly higher than it is. Is the CEO of Tesla (~50B ?) really more impactful than the US president (~400k/yr) ?

This is a problem in a countries like Canada, where the old "we need to attract the BEST talent for [government|not-for-profit|etc]" argument makes politics the best way to get an incredibly lucrative job when you don't have the skills to do it any other way. Compared to the US where the formula is typically 1. get rich 2. buy power

How about a public service that DOESN'T attract people who's primary directive is get ridiculously wealthy?

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#79

Post by thrtythreeforty »

aketchum wrote: post #70
rwmj wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does a "Congress tracker fund" make money? What with all the rumoured insider trading ...

I think there is a delay on stock disclosures, like they only have to disclose purchase/sale once a quarter or something which makes it hard to profitably copy their trading.

But it could be backtested, which I think is the point - "is the supposed insider trading actually profitable for Congress members?"

Re: Senators to Propose Ban on U.S. Lawmakers, Executive Branch Members Owning Stock

#80

Post by smallerfish »

jjoonathan wrote: post #49
rwmj wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does a "Congress tracker fund" make money? What with all the rumoured insider trading ...

NANC and KRUZ are the ticker symbols (I wish I was joking)

Interesting that NANC is doing so much better than KRUZ. Any ideas why?
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