Good old…very old…Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi got filthy rich doing “public service.” Weird how that works out for politicians, isn’t it? One of the few people older than Pelosi is Warren Buffett, and while he is considered to be almost clairvoyant when it comes to the market, Nan puts him to shame – she “has generated a cumulative return of 816% from her investments, beating the S and P 500 by a whopping 559 percentage points.” That’s almost impossible, and would be impossible if she hadn’t had access to insider information that would land a mere mortal in prison for using.
It can be very beneficial if someone knows which government contracts are coming down the line or which industries are on the verge of getting massive subsidies, etc., and Pelosi had her finger right on the pulse of that for decades. Or should I say she had her finger on the scales….
I say, let these people trade and get rich while in office, why the hell not?
But I have some strings. They can’t get a salary or a pension and health insurance. They can have a salary, pension and insurance if they accept a ban, so make it a choice for each one to make and make it permanent, completely irreversible. Then put a serious criminal punishment behind any violation of the deal – meaning a decade in prison.
Beyond that, for the people who choose to trade stock and get rich (and who can blame them?), every trade has to be public and immediately known. If you want to know what defense industry stocks some sleazy members of Congress, like Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat who made an easy $7 million trading defense stocks while serving on the House Armed Services Committee, are buying or selling so you can match her moves, you should be able to do that. If they’re going to get rich off insider trading, why shouldn’t everyone else?
Along those lines, since insider trading will land you in prison, that needs to change, too. If Members of Congress can do it, why can’t everyone else?
Make the stock market a free-for-all for everyone. The only thing that makes Members of Congress different from normal people is that they get to write the rules we, and they, have to live by. Blow that up, force them to choose between the rules for them for everyone, or the rules for everyone for them. It’d be a real Sophie’s Choice moment for them.
Also, while we're remaking things for the more transparent and better, for anyone who chooses the insider trading path, they can only serve 3 terms in the House or 2 terms in the Senate – a maximum of 12 years total in federal office. Make hay while the sun is shining, then get the hell out.
Just for fun, maybe we could add a prohibition of a family member succeeding them in office, too? Why not kill the legacy aspect of our politics while we're at it?
Oh, and maybe a 75 percent tax on the capital gains of anyone who chose this pathway and loses a reelection bid, either in the primary or the general? That would “encourage” these members to be very responsive to their constituents, wouldn’t it?
Just think of the fun we could have holding their feet to the fire. Also, think of the money everyone could make, provided people were willing to take the risks or even just pay attention to what their elected officials are doing.
We get churn in Congress, which we desperately need; we get full knowledge of the investments they’re making so we can follow suit, if we want, and we get to send their asses to jail if any of them violate the deal. What could go wrong?
Something, probably, but I’m willing to take the risk to get the inherent good of this deal.
Aside from the plastic surgery disaster, being a horrible person, a backstabbing pile of garbage and having sold her soul to Satan, who wouldn’t want to live like Nancy Pelosi? Hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from stock trades that make her as wealthy as a graffiti artist who slapped some paint on the wall at Facebook HQ ages ago is a pretty good life, and you wouldn’t even have to betray your country to do it. Sign me up.
Derek Hunter is the host of the Derek Hunter Show on WMAL in Washington, DC, and has a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.