Americans do not agree on much these days, but they certainly agree on this: Members of Congress should not get rich trading stocks while writing the very laws that move those stocks.
asserted
that → agree → stocks
The failure to ban insider trading in Congress is part of a broader rot now engulfing the swamp.
asserted
failure → ban → swamp
Political corruption, in general, has become a top concern for voters — and for good reason.
asserted
corruption → become → reason
A new CNBC poll shows, perhaps surprisingly, that it is the most important issue facing the nation: According to CNBC, 36% of voters ranked corruption as the top issue facing the country.
uncertain
% → show → country
Despite a slew of arrests in Minnesota, California and New York, where well-connected liberal groups and activists were caught stealing billions in taxpayer dollars, Democrats hold a four-point edge, 35% to 31%, on which party would better handle political corruption.
asserted
party → connect → corruption
Of those surveyed by CNBC, 93% said members of Congress and the president should not own or trade stock in companies that hold federal contracts, and 89% said companies owned by a sitting president’s immediate family should not receive federal contracts at all.
asserted
companies → survey → contracts
That all seems reasonable enough.
But apparently, it isn’t reasonable for Democrats.
asserted
it → seem → Democrats
On Sept. 30, Senate Democrats rejected the Stop Insider Trading Act after it had already passed the House with Democratic votes.
asserted
it → reject → votes
If it had passed, the law would have barred members of Congress, their spouses and their dependent children from buying new stock in public companies while in office.
asserted
law → pass → office
It would have also forced public notice before lawmakers could sell what they already hold.
uncertain
they → force → what
But every single Democrat in the Senate voted no.
asserted
Democrat → vote → Senate
He claimed Republicans set the bill up to fail, loading it with intentional "poison pills" so that it would never pass.
asserted
it → claim → pills
He also called it toothless, and said it didn’t go far enough.
asserted
it → call → it
Democrats pointed to a provision requiring voters to show identification at the polls, which an overwhelming majority of Americans support and virtually every other first-world country requires.
asserted
country → point → Americans
Schumer’s other objection — that the bill doesn’t go far enough — is hard to square with his record.
asserted
bill → go → record
One does not refuse to lock his front door because he would prefer an elaborate home security system.
asserted
he → refuse → system
A partial reform on the books beats a perfect one that lives only in tailored press releases.
asserted
that → beat → releases
Even more to the point: Democrats ran the Senate for years and never delivered the "real" ban on insider trading they now disingenuously purport to want.
asserted
they → run → trading
Senate Democrats’ recent vote against the Stop Insider Trading Act also puts attention back on Nancy Pelosi’s household, which sold 2,000 shares of Visa, worth between $500,000 and $1 million, on July 1, 2024.
asserted
which → put → July
Less than three months later, the Biden Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa.
asserted
Department → file → Visa
The stock promptly dropped.
asserted
stock → drop → ?
As attorney and longtime Trump advisor Michael Caputo recently put it, "Plenty of legal analysts have questioned the suit...
asserted
Plenty → put → suit
whatever the lawsuit ultimately accomplishes, its most conspicuous result so far has been helping a well-connected investor avoid the losses other Visa shareholders suffered."
asserted
shareholders → accomplish → losses
That well-connected investor, of course, is "Princess Nancy" herself.
asserted
investor → connect → course
However, the Visa sale wasn’t the first time hubby Paul Pelosi’s stock trading timing attracted scrutiny.
asserted
timing → attract → scrutiny
In 2022, he bought more than $1 million in Nvidia call options weeks before Congress voted on major subsidies for the chip industry.
asserted
Congress → buy → industry
He then sold them once the story broke.
asserted
story → sell → them
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
asserted
they → change → ?
At the turn of the 20th century, this was sometimes referred to in the jargon of the day as "honest graft."
asserted
this → refer → graft
In New York, insiders like George Washington Plunkitt, who ran New York’s infamous political machine of Tammany Hall, declared, "There's an honest graft, and I'm an example of how it works.
asserted
it → run → Hall
I might sum up the whole thing by saying: ‘I’ve seen my opportunities and I took ‘em.’"
uncertain
I → sum → em
Today, Pelosi’s corruption is so obvious that stock-trading platforms like PelosiTracker, Quiver Quantitative and Unusual Whales attempt to mimic her stock portfolio.
asserted
platforms → attempt → portfolio
In 2024, that portfolio returned more than double the S&P 500.
asserted
portfolio → return → S&P
The American people are not asking for much.
asserted
people → ask → much
They want the people who write the rules to stop playing the very game those rules govern.
asserted
rules → want → game
Republicans put a bill on the floor that would do that.
asserted
that → put → that
Senate Democrats killed it.
asserted
Democrats → kill → it
When Congress returns for the lame-duck session, it should take the bill up again before the end of the year.
asserted
it → return → year
Senate Democrats can redeem themselves then — at least on this score.
asserted
Democrats → redeem → score
The Aporia
