Corona Virus

[frae]

Is this illegal or just appallingly immoral? I'm not familiar with the laws of insider trading. It sure seems worse or at least as bad to me than what Martha Stewart went to jail for. They gained knowledge of the economic collapse and held it back as they made moves to not lose their shirts, while the rest of those with stocks/401ks did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOCK_Act

The STOCK Act is an original bill to prohibit members of Congress and employees of Congress from using private information derived from their official positions for personal benefit, and for other purposes. With this bill in place, members of Congress are no longer allowed to use information garnered through official business for personal reasons. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act prohibits members and employees of Congress from using "any nonpublic information derived from the individual's position ... or gained from performance of the individual's duties, for personal benefit". The bill also applies to all employees in the Executive and Judicial branches of the federal government.

[GwynnInTheHall]

California on Lockdown--All of it. 40 million residents ordered to Shelter in Place starting tonight at Midnight.

[Judge Jude]

Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, 60 Minutes, insider trading.

try that on "google" and enjoy the ride



from CNN:

"Pelosi and her husband participated in an initial public offering of Visa in 2008, according to CBS. They bought 5,000 shares at the initial price of $44; two days later, shares were trading at $64, CBS said.
The network reported the investment came at the same time a piece of legislation that was opposed by credit-card companies was making its way through the House."

"Boehner, who in 2009 was the House Minority leader, bought health-insurance stocks during the health care debate, all of which increased in value after the so-called public option was killed, CBS reported. Boehner was very much against the public option."

[frae]

Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, 60 Minutes, insider trading.

try that on "google" and enjoy the ride



from CNN:

"Pelosi and her husband participated in an initial public offering of Visa in 2008, according to CBS. They bought 5,000 shares at the initial price of $44; two days later, shares were trading at $64, CBS said.
The network reported the investment came at the same time a piece of legislation that was opposed by credit-card companies was making its way through the House."

"Boehner, who in 2009 was the House Minority leader, bought health-insurance stocks during the health care debate, all of which increased in value after the so-called public option was killed, CBS reported. Boehner was very much against the public option."

Ok, first yay whataboutism, second the stock act had not passed so yes it looks bad but as you and I have had in the past we both can go back and keep finding examples, the problem is there is a law now that there wasn't then against congress from using non public info.

EDIT - For fun the Stock Act passed the senate 96-3, Burr voted against it.

[Judge Jude]

this does seem more illegal, but it's all disgraceful.

this is weird: a tweeter with 20K followers but not a blue check mark - so grain of salt needed:

Tania Singh
@TwinklingTania
According to stock sales disclosures by Senators after a closed door briefing on January 24 about the Coronavirus threat, the following senators sold stocks:

Senator Richard Burr
Senator Kelly Loefner
Senator Dianne Feinstein,
Senator Ron Johnson
Senator Jim Inhofe
10:28 PM · Mar 19, 2020

if a Senator can show this matches their usual pattern and/or the stocks they sold clearly would be unrelated to..... wait, if they sold any stock right after that briefing, not a good look.

[frae]

this does seem more illegal, but it's all disgraceful.

this is weird: a tweeter with 20K followers but not a blue check mark - so grain of salt needed:

Tania Singh
@TwinklingTania
According to stock sales disclosures by Senators after a closed door briefing on January 24 about the Coronavirus threat, the following senators sold stocks:

Senator Richard Burr
Senator Kelly Loefner
Senator Dianne Feinstein,
Senator Ron Johnson
Senator Jim Inhofe
10:28 PM · Mar 19, 2020

if a Senator can show this matches their usual pattern and/or the stocks they sold clearly would be unrelated to..... wait, if they sold any stock right after that briefing, not a good look.

Yep get rid of them all, I can't imagine any of them can show any reason they sold that doesn't have to do with that meeting. All 5 should resign and probably face prosecution.

EDIT - yeah I can't find secondary confirmation yet, but if it isn't real it is a weird list. Feinstein is in a safe Dem state so why include her as your token Democrat if it isn't real?

[Sour Masher]

I do think it is more disgraceful to take advantage of a public health crisis. I find it more appalling, at least, not just for the financial gains, but the cost of them. It is blood money. Lives were lost because officials that were briefed on this chose to keep quit so they could profit, which may lead to thousands more dead than if they all did their jobs and spent every waking hour making the moves that needed to be made to curtail this and prepare.

[Sour Masher]

Inhofe is one of the 8 that voted against the relief bill as well. He got his so screw everyone else. I'm saddened that at 85 any consequences that come from this politically won't really matter. He already had his run. It was going to end soon regardless.

[mjl]

here's a thread with screenshots of the stock sale reports: https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/stat...15695287500800

[mjl]

wow, Tucker Carlson calling for Burr to resign: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4...selloff-due-to

[Gregg]

I have a buddy that plays the market heavily he sold a bunch in that Feb. time frame expecting a down turn not virus related.

I would imagine he wasn't the only one.

I am not excusing insider information. There will need to be an investigation. I am just suggesting it might not be exactly what some are implying.

[Sour Masher]

wow, Tucker Carlson calling for Burr to resign: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4...selloff-due-to

I really, really don't like Carlson--such a smug, punchable prick--but between him being one of the first on the right to plead for Trump to take this seriously and this calling out of one of his own, I begrudgingly have to give him his due on the COVID-19 front. He has been a voice in the wilderness on the right on this thing.

[Judge Jude]

my dive into the muck of Twitter shows conflicting info on Feinstein - and still no 'check marked' tweet on it.

hold all tickets, as they say in horse racing. might be some fog of war here.

[Sour Masher]

I have a buddy that plays the market heavily he sold a bunch in that Feb. time frame expecting a down turn not virus related.

I would imagine he wasn't the only one.

I am not excusing insider information. There will need to be an investigation. I am just suggesting it might not be exactly what some are implying.

Yeah, but here is the tough part for them--maybe they would have figured out a down turn was coming without that briefing. But once they got that information, and knew what was coming, how could they possibly justify the massive sell offs being reported? There is no way. Sure, maybe one or two of them would kick themselves sayings, "I had a feeling I should sell, and I should have before I got this information," but they didn't sell until after, and then on top of that, you have some buying telecoms. Your hands should be tied at that point. It is like you are playing poker and you are thinking of folding, but you don't until you look at the other players' cards. Once you look, you can't then act without that knowledge tainting your action.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Once you get that confidential information, even if you were intending to sell for other completely legitimate reason, it becomes illegal to do so. I can't imagine anything that would change the culpability here, unless the stocks were in a blind trust or some other way that the Senators had no knowledge of the sales taking place.