Day Traders: Members of congress set own rules on stock tradesToday the Washington Post has a front-page story which explores the topic of congressional stock trading more broadly:
The type of trading detailed in Moran's disclosure reports used to be relatively rare on Capitol Hill. But as
the number of wealthy lawmakers grew over the past decade, so too did the number of lawmakers who owned stocks or engaged in speculative or sophisticated trades. ............
In the House, for instance, the proportion of lawmakers with stock investments has risen sharply, from 21 percent in 2001 to 60 percent at the beginning of last year, according to academic researchers and the Center for Responsive Politics. That includes 68 lawmakers who owned more than $100,000 in stock, not including mutual funds, according to records compiled for 2008, the most recent available for electronic analysis.
Long-standing congressional (ethics rules allow almost any kind of trading and investment, subject in general to the judgment of individual lawmakers. Those
rules also allow spouses to have jobs in areas that touch on a lawmaker’s activity or investments. Moreover, lawmakers are not required to abstain from voting or divest themselves of stock when most potential conflicts arise. Those standards stand in stark contrast to rules that the lawmakers have mandated for others in government and the private sector.
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more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/24/AR2010052404000.html?hpid=topnewshttp://harpers.org/archive/2010/05/hbc-90007106
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