February 11, 2022

Is It Too Much to Ask Congressmen to Stop Day Trading?

For some reason, the Republican leaders have not yet leveraged this issue.

It’s hard to find a national issue with bipartisan 75% support (and only 5% opposition). Those are the numbers of Americans who want to restrict congressional members from trading stock. It’s not surprising that Congress still hasn’t acted; a lot of members want to keep making money stock trading while in office. A competent congressional leadership would push this issue, but it’s not clear we have that today.

There is a growing sentiment in America that those in power are playing by a different set of rules. Politicians flouting their own COVID-19 restrictions have exacerbated this long-running trend.

The Pew Research Center has been measuring trust in government for 70 years. During that period, trust peaked at 77% in 1964 under President Lyndon Johnson. Besides a couple blips during the first Iraq War and right after 9/11, trust in government has been on a continual decline ever since. Today? Only 24% trust the federal government.

Try to think of something more corrosive to a country than its people losing faith in the inherent fairness of the system. Once trust is gone, people stop believing anything from official sources. People are liable to adopt all sorts of wild conspiracy theories. Sound familiar?

So why are those in power doing so little to build back trust? Nothing points out the complete breakdown in American politics more than the utter lack of any effort from politicians to restore lost trust. In Washington, there’s a lot of bemoaning the state of play in America today, yet there’s been no real effort to fix the key trust issue. Partly as a result, according to Gallup, only 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. The president’s ratings are not much higher.

A majority of Americans feel that those they send to Washington are in it for themselves, a conclusion that is not without factual grounding. The days of citizen legislators serving their community and then returning home are long gone. Of the retiring members of Congress going to the private sector, nearly two-thirds now go to work for lobbying firms, consulting firms, trade groups or business groups that influence federal government activities. Corporate influence is now a full-blown business sector. Congress is just a steppingstone to the top of this multimillion-dollar business line. People are onto it.

The revolving door in Congress is just part of the problem. In recent years, there have been an accelerating number of reports of national leaders enriching themselves with potential insider stock trading. Members of the Federal Reserve have the ability to move the financial markets more than perhaps any other government officials. The vice chair of the Fed recently resigned over a stock trading scandal. Many other Fed officials are embroiled in the same. An investigation by The Wall Street Journal identified 131 federal judges who traded in stocks of companies before them in the courtroom. Finally, Business Insider recently completed an investigation that found 55 members of Congress violating a federal law designed to stop insider stock trading in Congress. Members on both sides of the aisle are currently embroiled in stock trading controversies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband makes millions trading stocks, is on record that members of Congress should be able to trade individual stocks. She defends her position based on the proposition that “we are a free market economy” and members of Congress should be able to participate in that.

Yes, you got that right. Pelosi is in favor of government regulation of virtually every aspect of American life. Yet she and her husband have made millions on trades while she has been in a position of leadership. So when it comes to trading stocks, she’s suddenly some sort of libertarian. She thinks people will buy this. I disagree.

Due to the Democrats’ mishandling of the pandemic, the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and President Joe Biden’s inability to rebut the radicals in his own party, Republicans have the opportunity to take back both the House and the Senate in 2022. Engaging the American people on the crucial issue of public trust could put them over the top. To date, Republicans have chosen not to take this easy win.

The win is easy because, unlike many national issues, the solution is easy. The American people have a right to expect those in positions of public trust and responsibility to live up to a high standard. Members of Congress have a lot of power. They have enough power to move financial markets and to affect the prospects of individual companies. It is not too much to ask them to refrain from profiting from this power. We do this already with executive branch officials who must comply with a federal criminal conflicts of interest law (passed by Congress ironically). Senior members of government must place their investments in a blind trust or hold diversified mutual funds. It’s that simple. If they don’t, they face potential criminal liability for participating in any debate that could affect their investment holdings.

There are numerous bills supported by members of both parties that would place similar restrictions on stock holdings by members of Congress. There is a legitimate argument that we do not want to place restrictions that are so strict they would disincentivize competent people from serving. Lord knows we need all the competent people we can get in Washington. But requiring investments to be placed in a blind trust or in a diversified mutual fund is not overly restrictive. Members could still benefit from gains in the U.S. economy, but their constituents would know that their decisions are not designed to pad personal stock portfolios.

For some reason, the Republican leaders have not yet leveraged this issue as a key way to distinguish themselves for the coming election cycle. Fighting to rebuild trust is the right thing to do, and it’s a huge win politically. Pelosi has given them a gift. Republicans should take it.

COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.