Senators beat the stock market annually by 12 percent on average

[cyberpj]

Remember this November 2005 Item?

snip...
That is an impressive performance, as fund managers are thought to have the Midas touch if they regularly outperform by about 3 percent, and even hedge funds - which charge steep fees for performance - are now on average only 6 percent better than the market.

The academics who conducted the study looked at 6 000 stock transactions made by senators between 1993 and 1998. They noted that the senators did an especially good job of picking up stocks at just the right time - their buys were typically flat before they bought them, but beat the market by 30 percent, on average, in the year after.

However, it seems the senators might have been given a helping hand. Alan Ziobrowski, a professor at Georgia State University, and his colleagues concluded that at least some senators must have been trading "based on information that is unavailable to the public".

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2984593&fSectionId=613&fSetId=662

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Yes, it's called insider trading

1993 to 1998. I'll bet it's been even worse now.

[cyberpj]

2. NY Times article, Feb 2004 - First-time Senators did especially well

NYTimes
Feb 2004

First-time Senators did especially well, with their stocks outperforming by 20 per cent a year on average - a result that very few professional fund managers would be able to achieve.

http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/business/FT1075982783472.html?ex=1393131600&en=84995e065fb67b58&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

[cyberpj]

3. New Yorker, Oct 2005 - Are senators really that smart?

New Yorker
Oct 2005

Are senators really that smart? The authors of the study suggest a more likely explanation: at least some senators must have been trading “based on information that is unavailable to the public”—in other words, they were engaged in some form of insider trading. It’s impossible to pin down exactly how it happened, but it’s easy to imagine senators getting occasional stock tips from corporate supplicants, and their own work in Congress often deals with confidential matters that have a direct impact on particular companies.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051031ta_talk_surowiecki

[sasha031]

4. BREAKING:Frist & Delay Had Day Traders Working Out Of Their Offices

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x179499

[cyberpj]

19. Saw that, thanks. It's why I dug up these 3 articles as support info.

Thanks for cross-posting it here.

[dweller]

5. this needs front page coverage folks

K and R !

it's the links to the erupting scandal that will bury the Repugs, sleaze developing.

:kick:

dp

[cyberpj]

18. Thanks. And Kick.

[stillcool]

6. I do now.....

sure makes you wonder how long some have been sitting on this. And why they're exposing it now? Need tinfoil.

[cyberpj]

20. Actually, these articles are from 2004 and 2005. No big press though.

I just wanted to dig em up because of the Delay and Frist day-traders post.

SIGH........

[chalky]

7. kicking.

n/t

[bvar22]

8. I wonder what Martha would say.

Put the criminals IN JAIL!!!

[SoCalDem]

9. Poor Martha had her reputation ruined & was humiliated for a lot less

I hope the first thing a Dem pres does is to pardon her.. If these fatcats can skate, and *²'s Poppy can buy him a pass on his stock scams, then Martha deserves a pardon, so she can reclaim her company..

[Pryderi]

10. Well, when your voting on legislation that affects market sectors...

Bill Frist et. al.

Personally, I believe no elected official should own or buy stocks while in office.

[cyberpj]

21. Sounds like a reform idea that deserves some discussion in public.

Yeah. Like THAT'll happen. :sarcasm:

[f-bush]

11. Inside Information

for senator's it's called good stewardship, for the common man that would be called a felony!

[ngGale]

12. Yep, Insider trading....

9/10 records would be nice.

[rucky]

13. They all have Martha Stewart on speed dial.

politicians suck.

[B Calm]

14. You hit the nail on the head!

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Now we know why Senators are millionaires.

[converted_democrat]

16. Kick....n/t

[elehhhhna]

17. Let's put them in charge of investing the Soc Sec money!