Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

Post by burkaman » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

eloff wrote: post #456

burkaman wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people don't This is the crux of the issue. If you have $100 million and you can't think of a single worthwhile use for any of it besides making more money, that's either a literally unbelievable lack of imagination, or incredibly cruel. It is so, so easy to do a huge amount of good with that much money. It's not easy to figure out how to do the most amount of good possible, that's probably an unsolvable probl…

I'm all for people donating money, but they don't have to. It's theirs and they get to do what they want with it, without the burkamans of the world guilt tripping them. If they want to invest their savings until such a time as they have something better to do with it, more power to them. After all, you wouldn't want me telling you how to spend your money.

Post by iudqnolq » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:44 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #373

dan-robertson wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not insider information. You might consider it material non-public information, which you can’t trade on in Europe, but in the US insider trading has a much more narrow definition: roughly it has to come from the insiders of the company. If your friend at Microsoft tells you that they won some massive contract, you can’t trade on it. If you overhear that news in a café, you can. If your friend at the government…

Honest question: If I work at Microsoft and I know we'll launch a product that will kill competitor X, am I allowed to short the X stock? That more analogous to the politician trading. They do have inside information, but it's not from inside the company they're trading.

Post by wpietri » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

Avalaxy wrote: post #321

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…

Would it really help? You can't restrict their complete social circles as well. All it takes is 1 willing friend who will happily accept your stock tips ahead of large announcements and who's willing to give you a share of the profits in return.

Post by contradistinct » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:53 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #100

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…

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…

Post by SavantIdiot » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #448

SavantIdiot wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot. As long as there are rigged markets and cadres of elites, we can truly do nothing. Sad, really. Not helping the matter is half of the US is below average intelligence and will elect crooks because they say the right things. If only there were more Ron Wydens and AOCs. But you see red states electing nutjobs who barely have high school degrees (Boeber) because they shout the loudest.

AOC won’t be immune to the same pressure that eventually corrupts longtime politicians. She’s just barely begun her second term. I’m certain she’s already begun to make perfectly legal deals and investments that are going to look shady to average people. Also, one person’s “shouting nutjob with barely a highschool degree” is someone else’s “passionate populist who represents the common people.”