Posted on 11/13/2011 5:14:43 PM PST by Bigtigermike
Former Speaker of the House–and current Minority Leader–Nancy Pelosi apparently bought $1 million to $5 million of Visa stock in one of the most sought-after and profitable initial public offerings (IPO) in American history, thwarted serious credit card reform for two years, and then watched her investment skyrocket 203%.
The revelation appears in Throw Them All Out, the new book by investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer
Schweizer’s investigation of Pelosi and other members of Congress–from both parties–raises a critical question: should it be legal for lawmakers to buy stocks in companies directly affected by their legislative efforts?
In early 2008, Nancy Pelosi and her real estate developer husband, Paul, were given an opportunity to buy into a Visa IPO. It was a nearly impossible feat–one that average citizens almost certainly could never achieve.
Despite Pelosi’s consistent railing against credit card companies, on March 18, 2008, the Pelosis bought between $1 million and $5 million (politicians do not have to report the exact amounts, only ranges) worth of Visa stock at the IPO price of $44 per share. Two days later, the stock price rocketed to $65 per share, yielding a 50% profit. The Pelosis then bought Visa twice more. By their third purchase on June 4, 2008, Visa was worth $85 per share.
How did Nancy Pelosi snag one of the most coveted initial public offerings in history? The facts are still emerging. Yet according to Schweizer, corporations that wish to build congressional allies will sometimes hand-pick members of Congress to receive IPOs.
Pelosi received her Visa IPO almost two weeks after a potentially damaging piece of legislation for Visa, the Credit Card Fair Fee Act, had been introduced in the House.
(Excerpt) Read more at biggovernment.com ...
Wilmington is kind of a runt ~ although it is usually going to be found in the USPS standard of "100 largest facilities" Baltimore is much larger.
The credit card industry in Delaware is huge. It's a good idea to tap those credit card payments early in the game ~ upstream ~ and segregate them out for pickup by the large customers. If this stuff was kicked on down the street to be handled regularly in Wilmington, mail services for the locals would become quite sticky.
Guarantee, in 40 years I NEVER sent a single credit card payment to Wilmington (although the service bureaus have been located in Delaware since Richard Nixon was President), but I have noticed dozens of different cards I've used using Baltimore.
M-Bank, which used to be a big deal in Dallas, set up their credit card operations in Delaware to take advantage of the interest rate laws. They went bankrupt so the service bureau was picked up by some other group (which I think was initially separate from a bank).
60 Minutes did their story because they knew the book was coming out. Their story mentioned Pelosi, and she was the only Democrat. Then they mentioned several Republicans, including Boehner. This was clearly CBS’s shot across the bow for Republican leadership. If you go after Pelosi, we’re coming after you.
I do believe that Republicans are not above the law any more than Democrats are, but it seems the liberals will do whatever it takes to protect their own. Integrity does not reside at CBS.
Alas, that's not what happens. It leaves your office and goes to a Mail Processing Facility (MPC). It's sorted and routed to the destination post office from there.
It can get quite complex actually.
The credit card service bureaus have a limited number of locations where they open and/or send out mail. Many of them make arrangements to pick up their mail at a larger MPC location. They then haul it to their processing plant elsewhere.
Sometimes these large credit card/billing operations change hands ~ which is why you might say on seeing the address on the return envelope "Hey, that must be the phone bill" but it's not because it's the "Visa Bill" 'cause the operation changed hands, or picked up a different contract with different banks or utilities.
I've been in hundreds of such operations ~for the most part this stuff is invisible to the public.
Why are they exempt from laws? Is this really true? No wonder they are all crooks. This is just so unbelievable.
Bfl.
...Is that the real Nancy Pelosi????
Now it makes sense why Pelosi cozied up to OWS so hot and heavy!!! Pelosi is the cream of the 1% crop.
I work at a bank. If I buy or sell stock in my bank, I MUST wait 60 days before I can but or sell my bank’s stock again. I think Nancy’s husband needs jail time for insider trading.
Tar...great big vats...and feathers.....
They are - thats the point ...
A member of Congress can receive non-public information at a secret committee session, then act on it [buy or sell stock to make a profit] and it is perfectly legal for him to do so ...
60 Minutes did a piece on it tonight - both DEMs and GOP do it ...
Also, Congress can get in on IPOs with no criminal charges.
It was pointed out that a CEO of a company going public CANNOT give $10,000 to a member of Congress [that IS illegal], but that same CEO can offer that same member of Congress to get in on an IPO - and it is perfectly legal.
Assuming the stock price goes up after the IPO, the member of Congress makes a tidy sum ...
This is FRIGGIN' disgusting ...
Didn't they save a butt-load of money for a company they're heavily invested in, I believe it's a tuna fish packing company, by exempting Guam from the minimum wage increases?
They do... Denny Hastert, mister "everyman" and former high school wrestling coach, guided an earmark to build a highway adjacent to some land he owned, and made millions selling the land.
I'm tired of them pissing down my back and telling me it's raining!
Mark
Oh come on, y’all. Why are your feathers all ruffled?
Nancy is a democrat, and we all know that dems are exempt from any rule or law.
After all, “X” was for the children. (for “X”, fill in scandal of the day).
Gosh! Where are the OWS morons on this?
There isn't anything to investigate. What they're doing is perfectly legal... Why you might ask? Well, it's because they wrote the laws to exempt themselves, in order to make piles of money for themselves, their families, and their friends and supporters.
It's perfectly legal for the congress-critters who approve defense contracts to invest in those same companies, knowing who will and won't get governmental contracts, and for those companies to give them political contributions. As the book states, it's perfectly legal for members of the banking committees to invest in financial stocks, and they did so after receiving classified briefings by Gietner and Bernacke!
Anyone outside of the protected political class would land in jail for a very long time. But then, this isn't anything new. Bernie Madoff will be in jail for the rest of his life for setting up his own little "social security administration."
Mark
Ha! Who is going to ask her to step down? Is the media going to ask her about it? Again, I say Ha!
This pretty well clarifies why elites of both parties fought so hard to keep Palin from gaining power in DC, she would have gutted them.
I had MBNA credit cards from the mid-1990s until MBNA was purchased by Bank of America in the mid-2000s, and I’ve had credit cards with Bank of America since. I’ve been sending payments exclusively to Wilmington—and never to Baltimore—for the past 15 years. Are you saying that letters mailed to Wilmington, DE 19850 actually are delivered by the USPS to Baltimore, MD and some Baltimore zip code?
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