Nancy Pelosi
2023-08-08 08:08:40 UTC
Nancy Pelosi made her political bones sucking up to homosexuals and
other child abusing perverts like Harvey Milk.
Democrats have the opportunity to do something that is good forother child abusing perverts like Harvey Milk.
the
country, that would be commonsensical and populist. So why wont
Nancy
Pelosi let them?
Im talking about the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act,
introduced
by the Democratic senators Mark Kelly and Jon Ossoff. This
legislation
(like a similar bill offered by Republican Josh Hawley) would
prohibit
members of Congress and their families (such as Pelosis
husband, Paul
Pelosi) from buying and selling stocks while they serve. It
would help
combat the growing consensus that the game is rigged for the
powerful
and connecteda sentiment shared by top Biden economic adviser
Brian
Deese.
Indeed, among some observers, the idea that top political
leaders arent
engaged in insider trading has become a joke. As NPRs Tim Mak
recently
reported, Among a certain community of individual investors on
TikTok,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosis stock trading disclosures are a
treasure
trove. In fact, Mak writes, you can get a push notification
every time
Pelosis stock trading disclosures are released.
First, though, a brief (recent) history of this toxic problem is
in
order.
In the midst of the financial meltdown, on Sept. 16, 2008,
Treasury
Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
held a
secret meeting with members of Congress. The result, as Business
Insider
noted, was that Congressmen privy to this information
reactednot by
dropping everything and drawing up a plan to save the economy,
but by
dumping stock and avoiding the losses everyone else would take
in the
coming month. Others bought stocks in financial firms that would
later
be saved by the federal government.
This event is detailed in a 2011 bookPeter Schweizers Throw
Them All
Outwhich, in turn, inspired a segment on CBSs 60 Minutes. But
the
story wasnt just about the financial meltdown.
One of the politicians featured in the segment was Nancy Pelosi,
who
participated in a 2008 Initial Public Offering from Visa, as 60
Minutes
noted, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would
have hurt
credit card companies, began making its way through the House.
Undisturbed by a potential conflict of interest, the
Pelosiswhose net
worth is well over $100 millionpurchased 5,000 shares of Visa
at the
initial price of $44 dollars. Two days later it was trading at
$64. The
credit card legislation never made it to the floor of the House.
This is a bipartisan problem, and Pelosi was far from the only
lawmaker
featured in that memorable 60 Minutes episode that helped spark
passage
of the The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Acta
flawed
piece of legislation codifying that it it is illegal for members
of
Congress to use any nonpublic information derived from the
individuals
position or gained from performance of the individuals duties,
for
personal benefit.
At least, thats what the law is supposed to do. The real test
would
come during the next crisis, which turned out to be the COVID-19
pandemic. Despite the law, members of Congress who received
coronavirus
briefings in early 2020 again made suspicious stock trades just
after
they found out, just ahead of the public and the markets , how
bad the
pandemic could be.
Despite the STOCK Act, none of the members received any serious
punishment.
Thats because its nearly impossible to prove that someone
acted solely
on insider information. Perhaps this is why Pelosi, under
pressure from
her own party to actually ban stock trading for members and their
families, is suggesting stiffer penalties for anyone who breaks
the
STOCK Act (in fairness, the fines are ridiculously small),
rather than
enact a more sweeping ban on lawmakers playing the markets.
Its fair to say that the STOCK Act hasnt accomplished its
stated
goaland that in the decade since it became law, Pelosi hasnt
done
anything to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
On Dec. 22, 2020, for example, Paul Pelosi invested between
$500,000 and
$1 million in 25 call options of Tesla stocks. Why is that a
problem? As
the AP reported, Joe Biden signed his executive order directing
federal
officials to transition federal, state, local and tribal
government
fleets to clean and zero-emission vehicles on Jan. 27less
than five
weeks after Pelosis investment.
The perception that the Pelosis may be profiting off of
information she
receives as Speaker of the House is problematic; as is the fact
she is
profiting from things she says are bad. According to Business
Insider,
the same day Pelosi called Facebook shameful and
irresponsible, her
husband was purchasing shares of Facebook, at a below market
rate, that
he would later sell for a hefty profit. Pelosi and her team
claim that
The Speaker does not own any stocks. But, of course, her
husband does,
making this a distinction without much of a difference (which is
why
this new proposed legislation bans spouses from buying and
selling
stocks.)
Last month, in response to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs tweet
saying
that, It is absolutely ludicrous that members of Congress can
hold and
trade individual stock while in office, Pelosi was forced to
confront
her opposition to this reform. In an instant, this San Francisco
liberal
transformed into a Club for Growth conservative, insisting that
We are
a free-market economy.
Im sure capitalism could survive Nancy Pelosi (and her husband)
not
being allowed to bet on the market while she is a member of
Congress.
Its rare that I side with AOC, but shes right on this one.
Banning
lawmakers and their families from trading stocks would show that
Democrats are holding themselves accountable, and using the
majority
they have been given to actually make politics less swampy. This
appearance of impropriety, alone, is contributing to the erosion
of
trust in our institutionsa plague that, among other
externalities,
helped lead to the election of Donald Trump. And, of course, it
would be
a wildly popular thing for Democrats to do, heading into the 2022
midterm elections.
So why wont Nancy Pelosi, who once promised that Democrats would
deliver the most honest, most open, most ethical Congress in
history,
support it?
I can think of more than 100 million reasons, but none of them
are any
good.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/there-are-100-million-reasons-why-
no-one-tr
usts-nancy-pelosi