Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress • Hacker News Board

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#431

Post by busymom0 » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:19 AM UTC

ABeeSea wrote: post #423

busymom0 wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with the same owner You know the entire establishment media is owned by a select few people right? She was very clearly against stimulus before election because she didn't want to give a win to her political opponent. We can say whatever we want about her political opponent but he had made it very clear on Twitter that he would instantly sign a stimulus only bill without pork if it's brought to him. Pelosi on the o…

The criticism linked in those articles was there wasn’t enough stimulus. She passed the massive stimulus bill of the HEROES Act that the Republicans senate refused to even put up for a vote. She never changes her opinion on more stimulus. She was never against stimulus. She criticized a particular Trump White House plan as not having enough stimulus; a Trump plan that Senate Republicans were against. Do you have a di…

You seemed to ignore all the sources in my comment.

> “If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy?” Trump tweeted.

> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped into the White House's latest $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief offer during a combative interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, accusing President Trump of only wanting to send out a second round of stimulus checks to juice the economy and boost his election odds.

> The Trump administration's proposal -- its largest yet -- drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, dimming the odds of another round of emergency aid before the Nov. 3 election. It was expected to include a second round of direct payments of up to $1,200 for adults and $1,000 for children; expanded unemployment benefits at $400 per week and additional funding for state and local governments.

So clearly she didn't want any stimulus before elections. Else she would have gotten the $1200 stand alone bill done and signed instantly.

Once the elections were over:

> Trump calls for $2,000 stimulus checks as $600 payments start being deposited

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/30/trump-calls-for-2000-stimulu...

https://thepostmillennial.com/pelosi-says-600-per-household-...

> Pelosi says $600 stimulus payment after 8 months is SIGNIFICANT

> We also have in the legislation, uh, direct payments which were not in the Republican bill, to America's working families. I would have liked them to be bigger, but they are significant and they will be going out soon."

This is obviously a lie since her political opponent had tweeted several times "If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy?" and "$2,000 stimulus checks"

Is $600 more significant than $1200 or $2000? Is that "not having enough stimulus"?

And now her party holds all 3 - house, senate and presidency and yet there's no $2000 cheques. If her political opponent was willing to give $1200 and then $2000 and yet her own party hasn't gotten that done, then who's worse?

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#432

Post by AlwaysRock » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:22 AM UTC

unethical_ban wrote: post #332

AlwaysRock wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you took away the politicians way of getting rich then what motivation would people have to be politicians? /s

I'm thinking of running for city council because I actually give a shit about civil service, the importance of good government, and I think I'm a better option than some of the absolute nutcases even running for mayor in my city. Some people actually care.

That's awesome. I voted for a person for Mayor of Chicago last year who I know cared. They got ~1000 votes.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#433

Post by ModernMech » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:25 AM UTC

thelean12 wrote: post #419

ModernMech wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For something designed to last multiple years, why not? I can look in my garage and kitchen at things I've spent 12.5% of my take home on that I expected to last a decade, including my refrigerator. I do not like Nancy Pelosi, but this criticism always seemed like quite a stretch to me.

Are any of the things in your garage 10-20x the average cost of that thing? That fridge is like the Lamborghini of fridges. I'm not saying buying something that is 12.5% of your take home income is unreasonable. After all, I own a car. I'm saying that buying a fridge at 12.5% of your take home income is unreasonable.

Why? This is just a statement of your priorities that you are projecting onto someone else, and then judging them for it. Not everyone has your set of priorities. When I was in gradschool I bought a $1000 dollar fridge. That was probably ~10% of my take-home, because I believe you get what you pay for. Am I "unreasonable"? Maybe according to you, but I'm fine with my decision.

If you're going to expend effort judging someone, judge them by their deeds, not by the appliances they buy.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#434

Post by mgraczyk » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:26 AM UTC

sakopov wrote: post #15

> For example, Pelosi in Dec 22 was against more stimulus. Her husband buys deep ITM TSLA and AAPL calls that day. December 23rd, she is suddenly for stimulus again, with those same companies ralling 5%, giving her an instant +30 return. > Congressman Gottheimer is absolutely an incredible options trader. He’s been selling calls at peaks on $MSFT all 2021, & seemingly buying back the contracts on dips. This in blocks…

Obviously having access to insider information and trading based on that information is not okay, but the specific trade called out here does not sound like the sort of thing a person would do if they had information about future movement of the underlying $MSFT.

They traded deep ITM calls 4 months out for deeper ITM calls 1 month out. My guess is that this particular trade is part of a risk management strategy, not an adjustment based on insider information.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#435

Post by ABeeSea » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:26 AM UTC

busymom0 wrote: post #431

ABeeSea wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The criticism linked in those articles was there wasn’t enough stimulus. She passed the massive stimulus bill of the HEROES Act that the Republicans senate refused to even put up for a vote. She never changes her opinion on more stimulus. She was never against stimulus. She criticized a particular Trump White House plan as not having enough stimulus; a Trump plan that Senate Republicans were against. Do you have a di…

You seemed to ignore all the sources in my comment. > “If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy?” Trump tweeted. > House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped into the White House's latest $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief offer during a combative interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, accusing President Trum…

None of those are quotes from Pelosi where she is against stimulus.

Here is an actual quote from her which is a direct response to a Trump tweet:

“Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks. At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it!”

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#436

Post by bugzz » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:29 AM UTC

asdev wrote: post #187

This can be solved by having trading of securities on an open blockchain. Have insiders/government officials sign time locked transactions ahead of time for the entire world to see.

what would stop them from using anonymous accounts to trade as well?

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#437

Post by IAmGraydon » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:44 AM UTC

sakopov wrote: post #15

> For example, Pelosi in Dec 22 was against more stimulus. Her husband buys deep ITM TSLA and AAPL calls that day. December 23rd, she is suddenly for stimulus again, with those same companies ralling 5%, giving her an instant +30 return. > Congressman Gottheimer is absolutely an incredible options trader. He’s been selling calls at peaks on $MSFT all 2021, & seemingly buying back the contracts on dips. This in blocks…

Yep. The very people we elected and who are supposed to answer to us are fleecing the American public. This needs to be investigated further by the SEC.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#438

Post by de6u99er » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

mLuby wrote: post #397

de6u99er wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but ultimately it's only a crime if they get caught. And even then it seems to me that they can get away with it too easily. How about electing honest people, instead of constantly voting for the establishement (w. a few exceptions).

(If you know a way to reliably detect "honest" people, it'll make you enough money to stop caring about all this and probably win you a Nobel peace prize too.) How to detect these crimes? By doing what the article describes: analyze the public officials' public disclosures and performance to see if "House members are outperforming market averages" or "house members followed trends far earlier" than the rest of the ma…

Those are very good points. I actually always thought that I am good at detecting dishonesty, but after I fell for a narcicist/sociopath in my last job I am not claiming that any more.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#439

Post by IAmGraydon » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 1:51 AM UTC

mgraczyk wrote: post #434

sakopov wrote: post #15

> For example, Pelosi in Dec 22 was against more stimulus. Her husband buys deep ITM TSLA and AAPL calls that day. December 23rd, she is suddenly for stimulus again, with those same companies ralling 5%, giving her an instant +30 return. > Congressman Gottheimer is absolutely an incredible options trader. He’s been selling calls at peaks on $MSFT all 2021, & seemingly buying back the contracts on dips. This in blocks…

Obviously having access to insider information and trading based on that information is not okay, but the specific trade called out here does not sound like the sort of thing a person would do if they had information about future movement of the underlying $MSFT. They traded deep ITM calls 4 months out for deeper ITM calls 1 month out. My guess is that this particular trade is part of a risk management strategy, not…

Yeah that didn’t make sense to me either. It sounds like the author isn’t very knowledgeable about how options work.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#440

Post by jokethrowaway » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 2:07 AM UTC

psychlops wrote: post #151

wpietri wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever the behind-the-scenes truth, I think the appearance of conflicting interests is a problem regardless. For a lot of elected offices and high public service positions, I think their wealth should be put into a blind trust, one constrained by law to buy broad, boring things like index funds. That would surely be a problem for some individuals. But I don't think it's a systemic problem. We only need to find 0.00…

Just require them to announce their trades publicly 24 hours in advance. And let them manage their own finances. All these shenanigan's would disappear.

There is always a way to circumvent security systems.

The only practical solution is having less centralisation of power, so no-one can easily manipulate the market.

It's not just Nancy Pelosi, most people in her position would do that. The position of power corrupts people.