Legislators have repeatedly become "stock gods". Nearly 100 US lawmakers have repeatedly been involved in insider trading.

　　□ Wang Yitong

　　Recently, the New York Times disclosed that from 2019 to 2021, nearly 100 members of the US Congress were suspected of using their powers to obtain inside information in advance when trading stocks and securities.

Before Congress passed the "Chip and Science Act," Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made a large surprise purchase of the stock of chip company Nvidia, which has attracted widespread attention and criticism.

To this end, the American people generally support the revision of the current "Stop Using Congressional Information Trading Act" to close the loopholes in the legislation, so as to prevent lawmakers from using their power for personal gain, which seems to be a "guardian".

However, most US lawmakers, including Pelosi, firmly opposed it on the grounds of so-called "market freedom".

This exposes the hypocrisy of the American-style "democracy" and "rule of law" that the United States has always talked about.

Legislators have repeatedly become "stock gods"

　　The New York Times quoted an investigative report that some members of Congress used their knowledge of policy changes to profit by buying stocks before they rose and selling them before they fell.

Several US media reports also show that lawmakers regard Congress as a place to get rich. With their understanding of policy changes, they can find the right time to buy and sell stocks and make a lot of money.

　　According to the "New York Times" statistics, between 2019 and 2021, 183 current U.S. congressmen reported investment transactions of themselves or their families, of which 97 congressmen (49 Republicans and 48 Democrats) reported more than 3,700 transactions have a stake in their work.

　　Business Insider's report also revealed that at least 20 members of Congress bought shares in Raytheon and Lockheed Martin after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out.

Shares of the two companies rose sharply on the back of U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

In addition, Florida Rep. Schultz, a Democrat, also bought energy stocks in late January this year.

Since the purchase, the prices of these shares have also skyrocketed.

　　On February 13, 2020, about a month before the WHO declared the new crown pneumonia epidemic to be a pandemic, Senator Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, sold $1.6 million worth of stock, "just in time" to avoid the subsequent stock market circuit breaker .

In addition, in the early days of the outbreak, at least 75 U.S. congressmen bought and sold the stocks of pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer. Afterwards, the trillion-dollar relief bill passed by the U.S. government gave relevant stock prices a strong boost.

　　According to the "Wall Street Journal" report, an investigation found that thousands of U.S. government executive branch officials reported holding or trading stocks that rose or fell because of their department's decisions.

About 240 federal officials from health agencies and the Department of Defense (a key player in the vaccine rollout) reported owning a combined $9 million to $28 million in stock in drug, manufacturing and biotech companies, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The companies won federal contracts related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

　　Relying on the above-mentioned well-known "tricks", many U.S. congressmen have made a fortune, and one by one, they have become "stock gods", and now they are all rich.

Bipartisan lawmakers

　　Among the US politicians suspected of insider trading, there are many well-known politicians such as Pelosi.

In addition, U.S. congressmen from both parties have taken a toll on the public and private sector.

　　According to statistics from the US political watch website "Open Secret", in 2021, the Pelosi family's investment return will rank second among all lawmakers, reaching 56.15%, surpassing the top hedge fund managers in the United States and even far exceeding "stock gods". "Warren Buffett and many other famous investors.

It is reported that the net worth of the Pelosi couple has soared from 2020 to more than $171 million by the end of 2021.

The couple were thus ridiculed as "Capitol Hill stock gods".

　　Although Pelosi has repeatedly claimed that she does not speculate in stocks, her husband, Paul Pelosi, often conducts a large number of stock transactions, which has raised questions from the outside world, believing that some of his "precise operations" are based on inside information given by his wife.

　　In fact, the Pelosi family is just one of the "stock gods" who have "incredible luck" on Capitol Hill.

　　As we all know, the "stock gods" on Capitol Hill are not only Democrats.

According to US media reports, the US Senate Republican leader McConnell's return on investment is even more exaggerated, close to 68%.

　　The market watch website revealed that members of both parties in the US Congress and their spouses not only invest heavily in stocks, but their investment returns are generally significantly higher than average.

　　Members of Congress and their relatives traded as much as $355 million in stock last year, including buying $180 million and selling $175 million.

Among them, the amount of stock transactions involved by Republican congressmen was about 201 million US dollars, and the amount of stock transactions involved by Democratic congressmen was about 154 million US dollars.

　　Last year, there were 41 members of the U.S. Congress who traded more than $500,000 in stocks. Among them, Texas Rep. McCall, a Republican, and California Rep. Connor, a Democrat, are known as the two “stock traders” on Capitol Hill. .

McCall is said to be buying about $31 million and selling about $35 million in 2021.

Connor bought about $34 million and sold about $19 million.

　　The American people, no matter what ethnicity or party they come from, are angry at politicians for manipulating the rules. Many people are also posting online articles to satirize lawmakers involved in insider trading as "the court and the stock market are going sideways."

　　In response to the public's accusations, Pelosi and others have either claimed that they have never disclosed inside information to anyone or have never conducted insider trading, or they have publicly argued that "the United States is a country with a free market economy, and members of Congress should be able to participate in stock trading."

For the sophistry of these people, former US President Trump also made a public mockery.

Regulatory laws are in vain

　　In fact, the US Congress passed the "Stop Using Congressional Information Trading Act" in 2012 to prohibit lawmakers from engaging in insider trading. However, this law is better than nothing, and there is no deterrence among lawmakers. force.

　　Under the law, members of the U.S. Congress and staff of the executive branch of Congress are prohibited from using non-public information to trade stocks.

The individuals listed above are required to report transactions in stocks and other securities over $1,000 within 45 days in case they profit from undisclosed information.

In addition, the above-mentioned persons are to publish their stock and securities transaction information on the Internet in a searchable, sortable and downloadable form.

　　However, the above-mentioned law does not prohibit U.S. congressmen and their relatives from owning or trading stocks, and even if congressmen violate the relevant provisions of the law, the penalties are very small.

　　In 2020 and 2021, at least 55 members of Congress and 182 senior congressional staffers filed overdue stock trading reports, according to a recent survey by Business Insider.

Their excuses vary, but they are nothing more than "don't know the existence of the bill", "clerical error", "accountant's error" and so on.

　　Ironically, overdue submission of the above-mentioned report will only result in a fine of $200, and the US Congress has not made public the punishment, so the outside world is not clear about the enforcement of the law.

In addition, very few people have been prosecuted for violating the aforementioned laws over the past 10 years.

A 2020 study showed that only 15 percent of insider trading in the U.S. was discovered and prosecuted.

　　It can be seen that the current US law is useless to these legislators.

They know the law and break the law, and they can still go unpunished in the face of public doubts.

　　Analysts believe that the repeated involvement of U.S. congressmen in insider trading has seriously overdrawn the American people's trust in the government.

At the same time, the provisions of the "Stop Using Congressional Information Trading Act" are too loose, and it is difficult to identify insider trading.

Although the voices of the American people demanding to close the loopholes in the law are rising, American politicians who have long been accustomed to using the stock market as a "cash machine" obviously will not take the initiative to make changes.

　　Rule of Law Daily