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Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

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Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#481

Post by devmunchies »

allturtles wrote: post #343
devmunchies wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> right-wing conspiracies based on outright fabrications maybe on that one point, but the fact the democrats trade way more on the markets is not a conspiracy theory , it's an outright conspiracy. why are you defending these people? because they're democrats on paper?

I believe GP is defending facts against malicious lies. That seems always a good thing, regardless of whom the lies are directed towards.

> malicious lies

just call it a lie. don't need biased adjectives.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#482

Post by throwawaygh »

godelski wrote: post #341
throwawaygh wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just prohibit members of Congress of owning stock? They are some of the most powerful people in the world. Why is it so much to ask that a Senator or especially Representative serving in the most powerful legislative body in the world just take a cash position for 2-6 years?

Because investments are still a great way to hold your savings. The problem here isn't that they have investments (e.g. a 401k), it is that they are acting on insider information. Which is illegal to everyone else. At _minimum_ they should be held to the same standards. Though I think most people agree that they should be held to _higher_ standards, which gives suggestions like a blind trust. And obviously strict rul…

Again, they are serving in the most powerful legislative body on earth. Putting retirement savings on hold is an extraordinarily small request given the amount of power that even the lowest-ranking Senator yields.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#483

Post by ABeeSea »

devmunchies wrote: post #481
allturtles wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe GP is defending facts against malicious lies. That seems always a good thing, regardless of whom the lies are directed towards.

> malicious lies just call it a lie. don't need biased adjectives.

I don’t think that’s a biased adjective. It describes the author’s intent in distributing an easily disprovable lie. Their intent was malicious.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#484

Post by eloff »

burkaman wrote: post #471
eloff wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think a reasonable amount of guilt tripping is healthy for a society. Obviously hoarding money shouldn't be illegal, but it should feel like anti-social behavior that most people disapprove of. It's like signing up to be an organ donor, or getting vaccinated, or being friendly to your neighbors. You shouldn't be forced into anything, but you should be socially pressured to make the choice that benefits your communi…

I agree with you, but I don't like the argument.

Something of it smacks of hypocrisy. I think you should be guilted into donating 5% of your wealth by that reasoning. Yeah you don't have 100M, but just like them a 5% donation won't materially affect your quality of life. How do you feel about that? Do you still feel it's anti social behavior not to do that?

Because I call hypocrisy otherwise.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#485

Post by api »

kelnos wrote: post #333
sneak wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure that has ever been true, or ever been the goal. The American government does serve the interests of the American people: the American people who own the bulk of the land and the largest companies. George Washington was the largest landowner in the colonies when the revolution started.

Right, and in the very beginning, only some single-digit percent of the people living in the US were eligible to vote. Women, slaves, non-landowners, etc. did not have the right to vote. The idea that the US was originally founded "by the people, for the people" is not at all what happened. I guess we could say that the government they created was progressive for its time, at least.

The US was more democratic after the revolution than before. Since then the trend has been in that direction, largely because those kinds of principles are baked into the constitution.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#486

Post by solipsism »

slashdev wrote: post #420
solipsism wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's being put to use by the companies and institutions you invest in to provide products and services. Why is that better than these companies living off their profits, and their loans? You talk about it and if it's a given. It's not.

You've got a fringe position there. If you want to defend it, be my guest. I believe it's pretty obviously a given. You're basically picking a fight with capitalism which, while far from perfect, it's the best system we've tried to date.

You're basically picking a fight with capitalism

That's a straw-man. I've said nothing questioning capitalism. The stock market isn't a necessary component of capitalism any more than subprime lending is.

The cost of the stock market is clear. The stock market causes and amplifies inequality. This isn't controversial.

But I find proponents of the stock market have trouble defending it, when asked to really be clear about the benefit to society -- to people.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#487

Post by BuyMyBitcoins »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #479
BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.”

Nice false equivalency! But you're right: flat earth society is real, so I guess they could elect a nutjob. After 4 years of Trump, your "both sides are the same" bullshit is DOA.

You’ve missed my point. Politics is a team sport and optics depend on your worldview and biases. “One mans X is another man’s Y” is me pointing this out.

But also, please refrain from calling other commenters’ thoughts “your bullshit” because that’s not nice or productive discourse.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#488

Post by [deleted] »

Swenrekcah wrote: post #385
jb775 wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just look it up. They did all of these things and more Can you provide a single example with a source that proves this? And please provide an example of how he "undermined democracy". Sounds like you watch a lot of CNN. I agree it should be punished equally not depending on D or R.

Sure, here’s one for the former (link below) and for the second you might remember the refusal to accept the election results and months of egging his supporters on, culminating in an attack on the US Capitol and the deaths of 4 or more people. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/10/us/trump-prop...

[deleted]

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#489

Post by mythrwy »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #479
BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.”

Nice false equivalency! But you're right: flat earth society is real, so I guess they could elect a nutjob. After 4 years of Trump, your "both sides are the same" bullshit is DOA.

Bringing up AOC as a virtuous example then calling others "nutjobs" is pretty rich though.

Re: Unusual Stock Trading by Whales in US Congress

#490

Post by menomatter »

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…

Are these the rules when you work for a bank to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest? How come congress members don't have similar rules
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