Pelosi and a lifetime of trading • Hacker News Board

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#41

Post by boulos » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

The article never says this, but her husband, Paul, is a longtime investor / VC [1]. There’s obviously still a huge opportunity for leakage of information that Nancy Pelosi receives, but the trades don’t actually look suspicious nor requiring non-public information.

There was some reporting on this issue more broadly when Senator Burr seemed to place trades directly due to coronavirus information, which included Pelosi’s husband’s trades.

Edit to add: I would concur with others that we probably need to restrict trading for politicians and their family, the same way we do insiders at corporations. Index funds okay, specific stocks or perceived competition, no.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Pelosi

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#42

Post by vmception » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

udev wrote: post #9

Isn't this just saying that Pelosi has a good financial advisor?

aka Nancy Pelosi is a good financial advisor to Paul Pelosi

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#43

Post by legitster » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

Nancy Pelosi's husband is CEO of a investment firm. It shouldn't be that surprising that she tops the list for investments.

As others online have pointed out, despite an above average year, her portfolio is still underperforming an S&P 500 index fund with the dividends reinvested.

Should politicians be forced to put their assets in a blind trust while in office? Yeah, probably. But I don't think I will indict Pelosi's slightly above average year of investments as evidence of anything in particular.

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#44

Post by trident5000 » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

underseacables wrote: post #30

atatatat wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Intrigued"? You mean suspicious?

Yes, deeply suspicious, I was trying to split the difference and not get political. I think it’s terrible. Members of Congress should not be allowed to own, trade, or have anything to do with the stock market. I always heard a rumor that members of Congress are always richer when they leave than when they entered. That should really piss Americans off, but it doesn’t depending on which party is in power, and which pa…

I have no issue with them owning a handful of broad ETF's like the SPY. Other than that they shouldnt be placing bets on specific parts of the economy they clearly have influence over.

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#45

Post by tharne » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #23

tharne wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered about this. It's mind boggling that this is allowed. A congressman can short oil stocks and the very next day propose a large tax on oil producers then promptly cash out, and be completely within the bounds of the law.

I don't think it's mindboggling at all. It makes perfect sense that lawmakers would not make laws that negatively affect lawmakers. I also think that the amount of nonpublic information that congresscritters have access to is substantially overblown. The fact that they can pass laws affecting the industries is a bigger lever, in my view.

I guess what surprises me is how nakedly unethical it is. I'm not shocked that people in positions of significant power would use that power to enrich themselves unfairly. I am shocked at how little effort they make to hide it.

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#46

Post by robbrown451 » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:50 PM UTC

Shouldn't HN steer clear of things like this with a political slant? She is a very divisive figure and I don't see how this sort of article makes HN better.

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#47

Post by trident5000 » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #37

Being up 56% in a year when the SPX went up 36% is hardly "incredible".

You didnt annualize the returns. Its possibly over 1000%.

Gotta love financially illiterate HN. He made over 100% on the trade in something like 1 month. 100% * 12 is over 1000%

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#48

Post by klipt » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #23

tharne wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered about this. It's mind boggling that this is allowed. A congressman can short oil stocks and the very next day propose a large tax on oil producers then promptly cash out, and be completely within the bounds of the law.

I don't think it's mindboggling at all. It makes perfect sense that lawmakers would not make laws that negatively affect lawmakers. I also think that the amount of nonpublic information that congresscritters have access to is substantially overblown. The fact that they can pass laws affecting the industries is a bigger lever, in my view.

Isn't "inside knowledge of upcoming new laws" a kind of non public information?

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#49

Post by tootie » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

lupire wrote: post #13

udev wrote: post #9

Isn't this just saying that Pelosi has a good financial advisor?

Of course. Classified intelligence reports and draft legislation negotiations are a great advisor.

It looks like she bought apple, amazon and nvidia. Not exactly obscure bets.

Re: Pelosi and a lifetime of trading

#50

Post by grillvogel » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 4:52 PM UTC

Interesting that DelBene is also so high on the list but not really mentioned at all

"Her husband, Kurt DelBene, is Chief Digital Officer and EVP of Corporate Strategy, Core Services Engineering and Operations at Microsoft Corporation,[33] and led the effort to fix the Healthcare.gov website at the request of President Barack Obama.[34]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzan_DelBene#Personal_life