like that

 I heard about proposed legislation that would prohibit members of Congress from trading in stocks. The reason is the obvious one, insider information. I haven't seen the entire bill so I'm not sure how it would apply to family members. Nancy Pelosi's husband is a big time trader. Her comment was she would allow the legislation to go to the floor but it is really a matter of confidence. Yes, Nancy is saying, you just have to trust those politicians to not use their insider information for monetary gain. Yes, trust us! Personally, I don't care what political affiliation a congressperson has when it comes to this, they will use that information. Call me a skeptic but I don't believe anyone would just ignore it. I think the best you could hope for is that they don't invest in something when that insider information shows it wouldn't be profitable. 

 The thing here is, every position in life has its' perks. That's just a part of the whole deal. It may be nothing more than I have worked here longer than you so I can get away with something, to having insider information. It's like being rich and poor, people are both. Yeah, we all want to be rich, but we aren't. I realize the Democrats would attempt to legislate that, redistribute the wealth they call it, while the Republicans oppose that strategy. In this case it is a bipartisan proposal. I know surprising, isn't it? I expect it is those members that haven't made their millions in the market. Or it is just more posturing before the mid-terms. You have to remain aware of that. You have to understand that politicians spend 70% of their time campaigning for reelection and 30% legislating. Yes, the most important thing to those people is the same as you and I, keeping their job. The longer you are there, the better the perks become. When I was in the service we had a saying, "he's got it like that." That described those situations when "he" could get away with this or that and you couldn't. Seniority is the official designation. You know, "you got it like that." 

 Now this isn't the first time such legislation has been proposed. Over ten years ago Congress passed the stock act. That was supposed to prevent insider trading. You hear about people getting in trouble for that every now and again. Martha Stewart probably being the most famous case. The feds proved she had insider information from one source but not from another. It's complicated, I read some stuff about it and I guess she deserved what she got. But the stock act doesn't directly apply to members of Congress, just rules about insider trading. If you are going to prohibit members of Congress from investing/trading in the market you are basically saying, we don't trust you. Of course, that wouldn't prevent them from passing along some information to others. What are you going to do? You can't place a member of congress in complete isolation, unable to communicate with anyone else. I'd say, you have to trust them, even when you don't! Yup, they got it like that. Just remember you elected them. It's a catch 22.