Posted on 11/14/2011 9:51:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Washington is buzzing about last night's 60 Minutes report that revealed the startling frequency with which members of Congress financially benefit from inside information they get as legislators.
Most of the focus has been on the ethically questionable trading of House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the two highest-ranking and most-visible members of the House.
But the most shocking revelation actually concerns a lesser-known Congressman, Rep. Spencer Bachus, who shorted the market as the economy collapsed in 2008, at the same time that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee.
The 60 Minutes report just touched on the Bachus trades. Luckily, the new book on which the broadcast was based has more details.
Slate's Dave Weigel got an early copy of the book, Throw Them All Out by Hoover Institute fellow Peter Schweizer, and the evidence is pretty damning. According to Schweizer, Bachus and Pelosi got secret briefings from Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who basically told the legislators that it was "a matter of days before there is a meltdown in the global financial system.”
From the book, via Weigel:
The next day, September 19, Congressman Bachus bought contract options on Proshares Ultra-Short QQQ, an index fund that seeks results that are 200% of the inverse of the Nasdaq 100 index. In other words, he was shorting the market. It was an inexpensive way to bet that the market would fall. He bought options for $7,846 on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 8,604. A few days later, on September 23, after the market had indeed fallen, he sold the options for over $13,000 and nearly doubled his money.
And that's only the beginning
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
setting the future media template.
The only people you are going to be able to trust to sit in Congress are devout anti-capitalists.
Throw Them All Out... I like it! Both parties are worthless to the core.
Get rid of them all.
Absolutely do not forget Pelosi. She is also responsible; so don’t try to make another one take the fall.
Pelosi is a devout anti-capitalist! She still does big government things like inside trading! You just need some honest people in there and outlaw lobbyist!
*
Not only does Pelosi blatantly lie in front of cameras and mics. She’s not even sophisticated enough to do a good job of it.
Bull cookies.
Why not stop electing people who are lawyers? Deceit and greed are their stock-in-trade.
Maybe we can elect an all Amish congress. At least when they vote in their own self interest they’ll be voting to be left the hell alone.
What Pelosi did was one step beyond. Not only was she making seven figure investments in an exclusive IPO, she insured she would make money on it by killing a big piece of legislation that would have hurt that investment.
This same book also details how 80% of the DoE green energy loans and grants money went to Obama bundlers, campaign chairs and DNC contributors. The program was run by a political appointee whose wife worked for the DNC.
Silly me!! And I thought that the laws were supposed to apply EQUALLY to ALL Americans, not just those who aren’t politicians!!
I am truly disgusted at their non-stop hypocrisy ahd “do as I say, not as I do” blather!!!
Nancy Pelosi.
The faux ignorance and arrogance of the woman is beyond contempt. But it's easy for her to dissimulate with a straight face and her uncoordinated hand gestures.
As House Speaker, she, and she alone had the absolute power to prevent a pending bill to come to the floor of the house.
She claims credit for passing strict rules against credit card companies to benefit consumers -------- AFTER she had made her financial killing by delaying debate, using the inside knowledge that would send anyone else to jail. Ask Martha Stewart.
The timeline is on the record. If this doesn't retire her immediately, nothing will. Criminal charges are possible for the next 7 years. Venezuela is nice this time of year.
“Why not stop electing people who are lawyers? Deceit and greed are their stock-in-trade.”
Better still, do as Great Britain has done, make it illegal for a lawyer to become a legislator! My guess though is that the lawyers alone are not the problem. If we had an objective media that would research and report exactly what each member of Congress has done, that we would re-elect almost none of them. And yet, the 21 longest serving members of the US Senate have been there for a total of more than 521 years! So we are to blame for allowing them to stay and line their pockets at our expense.
Not saying the Rs are any better, but they’re trying to do damage control by lumping the Rs with the most OBVIOUS corrupt one, Pelosie.
They need to take the spotlight off their sweetie.
The peak of the Dow was just over 14,000 before the 2008 meltdown. If he traded at 8,604, then he already saw firsthand a 4,000 point slide in the Dow.
Exactly. bttt
My kindle order has been placed for delivery Nov 25.
Amazon also has two often quoted books by Schweizer, Do As I Say and Makers and Takers, for less than $2 (plus shipping) new, from affiliated bookstores.
Ordered them, too.
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