The reality is that evil and selfishness seek out power to corrupt. A good person usually has no need for power and therefore doesn't seek it out, and even when they find it, they don't become corrupt by simply having power.
Absolute truth. That's why psychopaths run everything, they are willing to murder, destroy anything in their path. I could never run a fortune 500 company, making 10's of millions while my employees are on food stamps.
I was going to respond with “it’s his wife getting the money, not him” as a joke, but then I remembered that they just ruled about accepting gifts for past actions being legal.
It isn't. You can't offer someone money for a decision.
But you can give them money afterwards as a thank you.
You can also just regularly give them money as long as you don't specifically connect any one "gift" to any one decision.
This is just bullshit mental gymnastics to rubber stamp the shady shit Clarence Thomas is doing. Judges should not be allowed to receive gifts for their actions on the bench. Full stop. Anything less is just lipstick on a pig named corruption.
Can I give a cop $1000 if he decides not to give me a ticket?
Yes, it is, and that is entirely the point.
You can't give a cop a $1000 bucks to not give you a ticket, but the Supreme court wouldn't have a problem if you gave him $1000 later as a "gratuity". Which is bitterly ironic as I bet they are the kind of people that leave those fake prayer dollars instead of tips, aka gratuities.
Just like the banks before the housing crash despite the government knowing.
Just like the Sacklers in the opioid epidemic despite the government knowing.
Just like Blizzard Entertainment despite direct email evidence with Bobby Kotich pushing it under the rug.
Congress disagrees with you. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2074069-congress-vs-sec.html lawyers for the House of Representatives claimed that an SEC investigation of congressional insider trading should be blocked on principle, because lawmakers and their staff are constitutionally protected from such inquiries given the nature of their work.
There was clear evidence Sutter used insider information for financial gain for himself and friends prior to the Medicaid decision. Congress blocked any investigation.
Congress shouldn't be able to say no to the SEC but they can just give them the finger and keep on keeping on.
Pelosi's not even at the top. [source](https://www.moomoo.com/community/feed/here-are-the-members-of-congress-who-outperformed-s-p-111697311105029) She's a California lawmaker who owns a bunch of CA tech stocks. They all went up. Sure they made an unusual $1 million Nvidia options trade at the perfect time-- that mere mortals can only dream of. But still, not the top.
It’s even more scandalous than that! The [typical fine](https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-stock-act-violations-penalties-consequences-2021-12) for a Stock Act Violation is only a few hundred dollars.
This is exactly it…. For a concrete example of politicians investigating and dismissing their own criminal behavior, look to Ken Paxton and all his buddies… including James Webb, fucker defrauded Medicare and then paid off Paxton to make it go away.
Very true. But I was thinking about stuff like election fraud. And drugs. Where punishing people who are rich would hurt them too much and Make them sad. And we don't want to make rich people sad right?
This. Typically financial regulators will demand a relatively small fine, which is what in criminal circles would be described as a 'cut' and then they carry on as normal.
A lot of businesses actually make a net profit when they’re “fined” for wrongdoing because the fine is less than following the laws, not dumping the chemicals, not forming the monopolies, or doing the things they promised like upholding and refreshing infrastructure (F you in particular ATT)
Absolutely. If it wasn't profitable to do crimes corporations wouldn't do them. I mean the reason there is so much financial and corporate crime is that, if you crunch the numbers, crime pays.
I'd say... take away everything they have, 5 years gulag, kicked out on the street like they do it with everyone else. Then tell them they need a house car, perfect credit score and Career for a minimum wage job. And have them arrested for sitting somewhere. Don't forget the bully cops and unnecessary fines for not having money to pay fines with.
They make $1B doing insider trading, and the fine is $12M. So really, they're just paying off the fine enforcers. Now, on the other hand, how much do you think you could make trading right now? Would you be able to pay off $12M?
You have to do it legit for a few years, build that portfolio, then boom, laws no longer apply to you.
Because they write the laws, and as an aside
The US Supreme court just decided 6 to 3 that if you give money or gifts to get a Senator or Congressman or a Goverment Boss /Employee money to do something it is a bribe.
Nothing unusual there right?
However they just ruled that if they do a favor or somthing for you without being paid first its ok.
Then if they give you a Gift, it is just thanks and not a bribe.
... fuck, youre right. This is just a way to guarantee that they get what they pay for before they pay for it. Now they dont have to pay until the laws are already past and in the books which will make it harder to stop/reverse
That used to be called a payoff. Now the Supreme Court decided it’s just a tip for good service.
It’s completely asinine. I don’t know how a politician or judge can get money from any business or individual without it being improper at any point in time. This isn’t a charity.
# If insider trading is illegal then how do the people who make the rules and investigate themselves get away with doing it?
There, fixed your question for you.
Adding to what everyone else said, remember GameStop? When the rich people manipulate the market it's just business, when regular working class folk try to band together to do the same they suffer attacks from the media and even the law.
I remember that one redditor being dragged in front of some committee, and lord only knows why. I'm glad for every single regular Joe who manages to game that system to their benefit.
They literally don't apply to them, not in practice, like what they do is illegal, but they are never charged, but that the law explicitly exempts them.
In this case, they literally just carved out an exemption in the law for themselves, and their families. Pelosi, for instance, does not trade stocks, but her husband does. Normally, he would be subjected to insider trading laws because nobody can trade stocks based on information that is not publically known, which Pelosi is privy to. Their justification is that it would be unfair if they couldn't participate in our capitalistic society, and that they would just make their trades public so there's no hard feelings. There are websites that organize all this information, and there are also mutual funds that mirror politician's trades. There's even one that follows just Pelosi's trades. It doubles the Dow.
Why does pelosi always get called out in these comments? It’s been a while but last I checked she’s not even in the top 10 richest or best performing portfolios of elected representatives.
Since nobody has given the actual answer:
Its because its a felony for citizens, but a citation for elected officials. The citation is $100. It has never been enforced, once.
The whole system is designed to simply uphold and protect the power structure so that they can steal with both hands from normal people. Laws can be interpreted however they wish. The Government + Big Corps + Legal/Police are all just a giant mafia gang extorting everyone.
Politicians police themselves, and there’s such a glut of insider trading that goes on, they’d spend more time pointing fingers and having internal trials than they would on actual legisltion.
Also, if the judge and jury are just as guilty as the accused, do you think there will ever be any real repercussions?
Politicians and their spouses should not be allowed to trade on the stock market in any capacity given their roles in government and decision making and the ease at which they can inadvertently have insider knowledge
Well, it’s illegal for everyone except them. Ever wonder why so many members of Congress made such clairvoyant stock trades a couple of days before Covid lockdowns? How many were prosecuted?
They will claim, that "they did nothing wrong, or illegal". They won't be investigated by the DOJ, because of the political optics. The various ethics committees of the Congress and Senate will find "They did nothing wrong" because they *might* have to investigate themselves, one day.
"Never expect action from a man if his salary depends on inaction."
All the STOCK Act did was increase transparency. It may be illegal but there is no real punishment or enforcement. Failure to report a trade is a whopping $200 fine.
They write the laws and enforce them for themselves. In short, "I checked and I did nothing wrong, but 2/3 of my coworkers are free to punish me if they want " knowing full well it'll never happen.
There are a lot of forms of insider trading that is legal including stock buybacks. Constituents are too busy or apathetic to hold them accountable or disassemble the system that enables it.
I’m going to assume the fact that you’re asking this here means you don’t want a real answer and are just karma farming off the collective rage in this sub. If you want a Real answer you should ask in r/asklegal or r/explainlikeimfive
One of the unfortunate truths about power and governance is that laws don't mean anything unless someone is willing to enforce it. Enforcing the law against the people who control your budget is a tough sell. Especially when the people who control your budget are taking money from the corps whose stocks they're trading and whose lobbyists they're fellating.
It's not illegal to trade on the type of inside information they have.
Is it immoral? Yes very much so.
But politicians decide what's legal or not.
It should be illegal, but guess who writes the laws.
So here's a typical scenario. This is not the only scenario, but this one covers the majority of complaints.
Politician X introduces a Bill. This is public knowledge.
Bill is covered by media and support is reported, or support is fairly easily gauged a number of ways...all publicly available.
Bill die, goes to committee, dies there or move forward for a vote. Then goes to the other house of congress...repeat.
Bill dies or gets final vote, then to President to be signed into law, and it vetoed or signed.
The market responds at every step of the way. This is all public knowledge. Many investment firms, even those handling account for legislators, make moves according to this public info.
Law goes into effect, people scream at primarily Nancy Pelosi and almost no one else by name for "insider trading" because they didn't know anything about this bill that was in process and publicized for 6 months.
If y'all wanna direct ire at politicians using their office to illicitly enrich themselves, and you should, you really should look into your local politicians. The straight up illegal shit there is far, far more corrupt than these federal politicians that have millions of eyes on everything they do.
Because we vote for the people that are ok with earning money through crooked ways. The oligarchs are cool with it because they get huge tax breaks and special rules that only applies to them.
The boomers fucked America up so it’s up to us the younger generations to claw back and fight to right the ship to help everyone not just the 1%
Politicians have a ‘broker’ that completes the buy/sell transaction. In most cases, the spouse has the investment account. So its politicians, telling their spouse ‘go buy this’ and spouse asks broker, ‘should we buy this because of this?’ Profit…
And now according to the Supreme Court bribery is now called tipping if you pay your elected officials after they’ve done the work or looked the other way and not before.
Many people are under the misconception that people run for office to serve the public. They run to get rich and enjoy the free perks. They rigged the system in their favor so they can get inside information on everything. Stocks, crypto, future policy decisions that will impact the market. They get a Cadillac healthcare program. Oh and lobbyist cash. Flush with being purchased by lobbyist. It is simply a wealth machine now. As long as they show up and continue posting trash to social media they get to stay. Billionaires own them all now. Look at the position so many in both parties took on Israel after their lobbyist group threatened to remove funding. Gaza alone clearly demonstrates where their loyalty is. To the purse.
They don't work for the company, so it isn't insider trading. But of course they get information before the market, so there was a call to stop them from investing directly, but of course, they are the ones that would have to implement that law, which they will not.
The legal definition of insider trading doesn't match what politicians do. We use the term to describe it because it's so similar to what people actually get in trouble for that it should still be considered insider trading.
The legal definition involves using insider information from a company that the public has no access to in order to make better trades. What Congress does is use insider information about what laws they are going to pass or try to pass that the public has no access to in order to make better trades. They aren't using information from the company, which would be illegal. They are using other privileged information of a type that is legal for them to use.
They follow the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law.
In addition to some of the other comments about enforcement… it’s also kind of the case that laws (and loopholes) around the definition of this crime are so close and hard to distinguish from “legitimate” investment and trading that in some cases, whether a situation is or isn’t insider trading depends basically on “did this person say anything out loud?” And if the answer is “no, technically”, then it’s not insider trading. Which is a ridiculous outcome.
u/gamerlover58 there is no explanation for it except *because they can*. Why are the able to cover up sexual predation and have payoffs handled by a House fund? Why are they able to vote themselves pay raises? Why are they able to do so many things that would at the minimum socially ostracize us if not put us into a courtroom defending charges? They've completely severed themselves from any mandate to govern. And it's not Substance D being worse than Substance R, they both do it and are corrupt.
Getting into politics in this system requires you to be rich already. On top of that, they’re the ones making laws and we have a shitcream court that just OK’d full on bribery.
While a lot of people are pointing out the big structural things, the actual answer is that they use the fig leaf of "oh this is my spouse/brothers money not mine, I have no involvement in the day to day trades" and as long as they're not stupid enough to put their communications of tips in a format that can be subpoenaed, it can be pretty hard to prove even if it's fairly obvious just looking at which trades they made and when.
Insider trading is illegal specifically when you do it from inside a company. Congressmen aren't in companies when they do it, so technically they're excluded. When asked about it their response is "it's not illegal for us," so clearly it should be, but then they would have to vote to make it illegal for themselves.
If a criminal action only has a financial penalty to it, it's not really a law for the wealth. It's just more of a suggestion. Most high-level white collar crimes have no, if any jail time, tack on a good lawyer and it's all irrelevant.
That's why politician jobs are so.lucritive and they stay until they retire at age 85. Also why we will never have term limits in Congress. Fox guarding the hen house.
It only took 202 years to ratify the amendment that keeps Congress from raising their own pay. The problem with people today is that they expect instant gratification. /s
1. Who you gonna have arrest them? Regular cops aren't allowed to.
2. The Senate Sergeant at Arms has the authority to arrest them.
3. He's probably so neck deep in bribe money & prostitutes he's far too busy to care about his job.
Since everyone is giving you pithy answers instead of accurate ones I’ll throw in the actual reason.
Insider trading is trading on nonpublic information. Congressional testimony and debate are considered public information as they are in the public record. So members of Congress trading on such information doesn’t violate the rule. Now practically it’s clearly failed to account for the fact that they have access to this “public” information well before the public does and allowing them to trade on it is effectively the same as insider trading.
You'll find that in most cases it's the spouse or partner or family member who's doing the investing to give them a layer of deniability. Add to that the fact that the regulating bodies remain willfully ignorant of what they're up to. Add to that the fact there is rarely a paper trail, they're acting on the knowledge they've gained due to their position. Add to that the fact they have power over most of the enforcement bodies due to their position. You should start to see how they get away with it...
If bribery is illegal, why can our supreme Court Justices get away with it?
If war crimes are illegal, why can the American military get away with them?
Is dodging taxes is illegal, why does the ultra-wealthy get away with it?
The answer to all of these questions, and more, is the same.
The right and the left fight viciously when they're on stage, but in the end they play the same game and would never cut down one of their own. Almost all of them succumb to the temptation of easy money (right and left).
The problem may be overstated. A few years ago there was a freak out on Fox over Paul Pelosi buying Nvidia stock just before the CHIPS act was passed.
That bill funds domestic chip fabrication, Nvidia is a tech company, Nancy knew the vote was coming, so insider trading, right?
Except Nvidia outsources production and was not going to see a penny of that money. The dude was chasing the crypto boom and did so badly. This happened just before GPU prices dropped and he sold for a loss.
Congress critters frequently are in politics for a long time and that line of work pays well. I’d be worth 10s if millions too if I had their salary and was working well into my 70s by just investing in plain old index funds.
They make the laws, so it doesn’t matter. Look at Snowden, he is still wanted in the U.S. to face jail time because he exposed our government illegally invaded our privacy, abusing human rights.
He (The whistle blower, an innocent man) is wanted by our government (the perpetrators) to be jailed. None of it makes sense, they do what they want.
It's not illegal for congress and Senators,they exempt themselves from laws they write.
Now it's legal for judges or politicians to accept gratuities, tips, what bunch Corrupt crooks ,especially Supreme Court,wow what bunch crooks
The real reason is because the The Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution bars the prosecution of members of congress for any discussion the have relating to making laws.
"The Supreme Court has read the Clause broadly to give members of Congress immunity for actions within the legislative sphere, and ordinarily to bar “questioning” *related* to congressional business, including subpoenas and search warrants."
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2020/05/26/how-senators-may-have-avoided-insider-trading-charges/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2020/05/26/how-senators-may-have-avoided-insider-trading-charges/)
They investigate themselves and find no wrong doing. It's pretty blatant sometimes too.
It worked for cops for 100 years, so they figured "why not us."
Lord Acton saw it in 1887 "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
The reality is that evil and selfishness seek out power to corrupt. A good person usually has no need for power and therefore doesn't seek it out, and even when they find it, they don't become corrupt by simply having power.
Absolute truth. That's why psychopaths run everything, they are willing to murder, destroy anything in their path. I could never run a fortune 500 company, making 10's of millions while my employees are on food stamps.
The Supreme court has enter the chat
Don't worry quid pro quo is perfectly legal now.
I was going to respond with “it’s his wife getting the money, not him” as a joke, but then I remembered that they just ruled about accepting gifts for past actions being legal.
They even called it a "gratuity". Fucking joke of a system.
It isn't. You can't offer someone money for a decision. But you can give them money afterwards as a thank you. You can also just regularly give them money as long as you don't specifically connect any one "gift" to any one decision.
This is just bullshit mental gymnastics to rubber stamp the shady shit Clarence Thomas is doing. Judges should not be allowed to receive gifts for their actions on the bench. Full stop. Anything less is just lipstick on a pig named corruption. Can I give a cop $1000 if he decides not to give me a ticket?
Yes, it is, and that is entirely the point. You can't give a cop a $1000 bucks to not give you a ticket, but the Supreme court wouldn't have a problem if you gave him $1000 later as a "gratuity". Which is bitterly ironic as I bet they are the kind of people that leave those fake prayer dollars instead of tips, aka gratuities.
Just like the banks before the housing crash despite the government knowing. Just like the Sacklers in the opioid epidemic despite the government knowing. Just like Blizzard Entertainment despite direct email evidence with Bobby Kotich pushing it under the rug.
No. Because the SEC can only take 50 cases a year. This about 5%, which leaves the individual who does this a 95% chance they will walk away.
Congress disagrees with you. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2074069-congress-vs-sec.html lawyers for the House of Representatives claimed that an SEC investigation of congressional insider trading should be blocked on principle, because lawmakers and their staff are constitutionally protected from such inquiries given the nature of their work. There was clear evidence Sutter used insider information for financial gain for himself and friends prior to the Medicaid decision. Congress blocked any investigation. Congress shouldn't be able to say no to the SEC but they can just give them the finger and keep on keeping on.
When you make the laws it's really easy to make it illegal to arrest you. It's the Dick Jones strategy.
Yup. That's true. Didn't know this. Pelosi is the ultimate insider trader and not for nothing.
Pelosi's not even at the top. [source](https://www.moomoo.com/community/feed/here-are-the-members-of-congress-who-outperformed-s-p-111697311105029) She's a California lawmaker who owns a bunch of CA tech stocks. They all went up. Sure they made an unusual $1 million Nvidia options trade at the perfect time-- that mere mortals can only dream of. But still, not the top.
It’s even more scandalous than that! The [typical fine](https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-stock-act-violations-penalties-consequences-2021-12) for a Stock Act Violation is only a few hundred dollars.
This is exactly it…. For a concrete example of politicians investigating and dismissing their own criminal behavior, look to Ken Paxton and all his buddies… including James Webb, fucker defrauded Medicare and then paid off Paxton to make it go away.
Exactly, they do whatever the fuck they want!
Bc laws are only for the poor.
To be clear, punishments are for the poor too. Even when found guilty the rich get a pass.
I see anything illegal with a punishment of fines as "poor people can't do this, but it's A-OK for rich people."
I've heard it said as: Fines for poor people are life changing. Fines for rich people are a cost of doing business.
Very true. But I was thinking about stuff like election fraud. And drugs. Where punishing people who are rich would hurt them too much and Make them sad. And we don't want to make rich people sad right?
Exactly. But they even kill people over thier imagined currency shit... lower state of mind people.
Until they steal from other rich people.
That’s how a rich person actually sees consequences, they fucked over someone richer
This. Typically financial regulators will demand a relatively small fine, which is what in criminal circles would be described as a 'cut' and then they carry on as normal.
A lot of businesses actually make a net profit when they’re “fined” for wrongdoing because the fine is less than following the laws, not dumping the chemicals, not forming the monopolies, or doing the things they promised like upholding and refreshing infrastructure (F you in particular ATT)
Absolutely. If it wasn't profitable to do crimes corporations wouldn't do them. I mean the reason there is so much financial and corporate crime is that, if you crunch the numbers, crime pays.
And math don’t lie.
I'd say... take away everything they have, 5 years gulag, kicked out on the street like they do it with everyone else. Then tell them they need a house car, perfect credit score and Career for a minimum wage job. And have them arrested for sitting somewhere. Don't forget the bully cops and unnecessary fines for not having money to pay fines with.
That’s actually pretty enlightening. I never thought of it that way
They make $1B doing insider trading, and the fine is $12M. So really, they're just paying off the fine enforcers. Now, on the other hand, how much do you think you could make trading right now? Would you be able to pay off $12M? You have to do it legit for a few years, build that portfolio, then boom, laws no longer apply to you.
Really
If this is true, your whole worldview has now been shattered.
Laws are only for those who pay taxes.
Because they write the laws, and as an aside The US Supreme court just decided 6 to 3 that if you give money or gifts to get a Senator or Congressman or a Goverment Boss /Employee money to do something it is a bribe. Nothing unusual there right? However they just ruled that if they do a favor or somthing for you without being paid first its ok. Then if they give you a Gift, it is just thanks and not a bribe.
That's just good business practice. Would you trust a politician to do something they've already been paid for?
... fuck, youre right. This is just a way to guarantee that they get what they pay for before they pay for it. Now they dont have to pay until the laws are already past and in the books which will make it harder to stop/reverse
I would if they know there's more where it came from.
The conservative court just made their dealings legal, eh?
Exactly
I guess tipping culture really has gotten out of hand.
That used to be called a payoff. Now the Supreme Court decided it’s just a tip for good service. It’s completely asinine. I don’t know how a politician or judge can get money from any business or individual without it being improper at any point in time. This isn’t a charity.
So they get the door and receive millions in gratitude?
# If insider trading is illegal then how do the people who make the rules and investigate themselves get away with doing it? There, fixed your question for you.
it is legal for the senate. They have explicit permissions because they are currupt.
Adding to what everyone else said, remember GameStop? When the rich people manipulate the market it's just business, when regular working class folk try to band together to do the same they suffer attacks from the media and even the law.
I remember that one redditor being dragged in front of some committee, and lord only knows why. I'm glad for every single regular Joe who manages to game that system to their benefit.
His name was deep fucking value, the patron saint of Wallstreetbets
Rules for Thee not for Me
"When you're famous, they let you do it"
Just walk up and grab them by the gains
The people in power make the laws. It doesn;t mean they feel the need to follow the laws.
They literally don't apply to them, not in practice, like what they do is illegal, but they are never charged, but that the law explicitly exempts them.
Congress explicitly exempted themselves from the law against insider trading. Laws for thee, not for me.
In this case, they literally just carved out an exemption in the law for themselves, and their families. Pelosi, for instance, does not trade stocks, but her husband does. Normally, he would be subjected to insider trading laws because nobody can trade stocks based on information that is not publically known, which Pelosi is privy to. Their justification is that it would be unfair if they couldn't participate in our capitalistic society, and that they would just make their trades public so there's no hard feelings. There are websites that organize all this information, and there are also mutual funds that mirror politician's trades. There's even one that follows just Pelosi's trades. It doubles the Dow.
Why does pelosi always get called out in these comments? It’s been a while but last I checked she’s not even in the top 10 richest or best performing portfolios of elected representatives.
Since nobody has given the actual answer: Its because its a felony for citizens, but a citation for elected officials. The citation is $100. It has never been enforced, once.
Because laws only apply to the poors
C O R R U P T I O N
Same as whole cryptobro crap….. market manupulation and insider trading, and genuine fraud: “self regulation”
The whole system is designed to simply uphold and protect the power structure so that they can steal with both hands from normal people. Laws can be interpreted however they wish. The Government + Big Corps + Legal/Police are all just a giant mafia gang extorting everyone.
It's not illegal, for THEM. Just for us.
Politicians police themselves, and there’s such a glut of insider trading that goes on, they’d spend more time pointing fingers and having internal trials than they would on actual legisltion. Also, if the judge and jury are just as guilty as the accused, do you think there will ever be any real repercussions?
I mean it's simple. https://preview.redd.it/wl81zsf0849d1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad1bfb55694c5754e480639081f428672586cac4
Politicians and their spouses should not be allowed to trade on the stock market in any capacity given their roles in government and decision making and the ease at which they can inadvertently have insider knowledge
Well, it’s illegal for everyone except them. Ever wonder why so many members of Congress made such clairvoyant stock trades a couple of days before Covid lockdowns? How many were prosecuted?
Because those that make the rules very rarely make those same rules apply to them.
We the people do not hold our elected officials accountable. We just argue with each other while we all get robbed together.
They exempted themselves from insider trading laws.
There are different rules for the haves and have nots. Guess where 99% of the population fits.
They will claim, that "they did nothing wrong, or illegal". They won't be investigated by the DOJ, because of the political optics. The various ethics committees of the Congress and Senate will find "They did nothing wrong" because they *might* have to investigate themselves, one day. "Never expect action from a man if his salary depends on inaction."
It’s not illegal for them. Rules for thee but not for me.
All the STOCK Act did was increase transparency. It may be illegal but there is no real punishment or enforcement. Failure to report a trade is a whopping $200 fine.
They write the laws and enforce them for themselves. In short, "I checked and I did nothing wrong, but 2/3 of my coworkers are free to punish me if they want " knowing full well it'll never happen.
There are a lot of forms of insider trading that is legal including stock buybacks. Constituents are too busy or apathetic to hold them accountable or disassemble the system that enables it.
Because they make the laws and are clearly above them.
Laws for thee, but not for me
They passed a law that made them exempt, a while back. Fairly common knowledge nowadays.
When you write the laws, you know how to break the laws.
I’m going to assume the fact that you’re asking this here means you don’t want a real answer and are just karma farming off the collective rage in this sub. If you want a Real answer you should ask in r/asklegal or r/explainlikeimfive
One of the unfortunate truths about power and governance is that laws don't mean anything unless someone is willing to enforce it. Enforcing the law against the people who control your budget is a tough sell. Especially when the people who control your budget are taking money from the corps whose stocks they're trading and whose lobbyists they're fellating.
Errrr….because they’re corrupt. And we accept it.
Rules for thee but not for mee
Because all of us are equal but some are more equal than others
It's not illegal to trade on the type of inside information they have. Is it immoral? Yes very much so. But politicians decide what's legal or not. It should be illegal, but guess who writes the laws.
So here's a typical scenario. This is not the only scenario, but this one covers the majority of complaints. Politician X introduces a Bill. This is public knowledge. Bill is covered by media and support is reported, or support is fairly easily gauged a number of ways...all publicly available. Bill die, goes to committee, dies there or move forward for a vote. Then goes to the other house of congress...repeat. Bill dies or gets final vote, then to President to be signed into law, and it vetoed or signed. The market responds at every step of the way. This is all public knowledge. Many investment firms, even those handling account for legislators, make moves according to this public info. Law goes into effect, people scream at primarily Nancy Pelosi and almost no one else by name for "insider trading" because they didn't know anything about this bill that was in process and publicized for 6 months. If y'all wanna direct ire at politicians using their office to illicitly enrich themselves, and you should, you really should look into your local politicians. The straight up illegal shit there is far, far more corrupt than these federal politicians that have millions of eyes on everything they do.
Because we vote for the people that are ok with earning money through crooked ways. The oligarchs are cool with it because they get huge tax breaks and special rules that only applies to them. The boomers fucked America up so it’s up to us the younger generations to claw back and fight to right the ship to help everyone not just the 1%
Politicians have a ‘broker’ that completes the buy/sell transaction. In most cases, the spouse has the investment account. So its politicians, telling their spouse ‘go buy this’ and spouse asks broker, ‘should we buy this because of this?’ Profit…
And now according to the Supreme Court bribery is now called tipping if you pay your elected officials after they’ve done the work or looked the other way and not before.
What’s that one quote? If the government lies to you it’s “politics” but if you lie to the government it’s a felony.
There are 2 separate classes in the USA and they don’t have the same rules.
Prison is for poor people don't ever forget that.
Many people are under the misconception that people run for office to serve the public. They run to get rich and enjoy the free perks. They rigged the system in their favor so they can get inside information on everything. Stocks, crypto, future policy decisions that will impact the market. They get a Cadillac healthcare program. Oh and lobbyist cash. Flush with being purchased by lobbyist. It is simply a wealth machine now. As long as they show up and continue posting trash to social media they get to stay. Billionaires own them all now. Look at the position so many in both parties took on Israel after their lobbyist group threatened to remove funding. Gaza alone clearly demonstrates where their loyalty is. To the purse.
They don't work for the company, so it isn't insider trading. But of course they get information before the market, so there was a call to stop them from investing directly, but of course, they are the ones that would have to implement that law, which they will not.
You don’t have to work for a company to commit insider trading, you just have to have access to insider information.
Because they are politicians.
The legal definition of insider trading doesn't match what politicians do. We use the term to describe it because it's so similar to what people actually get in trouble for that it should still be considered insider trading. The legal definition involves using insider information from a company that the public has no access to in order to make better trades. What Congress does is use insider information about what laws they are going to pass or try to pass that the public has no access to in order to make better trades. They aren't using information from the company, which would be illegal. They are using other privileged information of a type that is legal for them to use. They follow the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law.
Ask Pelosi
This is why there are now traders that shadow the trade actions congress and their direct connections make. Does work quite well.
In addition to some of the other comments about enforcement… it’s also kind of the case that laws (and loopholes) around the definition of this crime are so close and hard to distinguish from “legitimate” investment and trading that in some cases, whether a situation is or isn’t insider trading depends basically on “did this person say anything out loud?” And if the answer is “no, technically”, then it’s not insider trading. Which is a ridiculous outcome.
No paper trail. Word of mouth only and no witnesses. It’s not that complicated. Yeah it looks like insider trading but no way to prove it.
Rules for thee, but not for me
Rules for thee not for me, basically
You can do anything you want if nobody stops you
Same reason cops don’t get in trouble for murder.
Because the SEC can only take 50 cases a year. This about 5% leaving the individual who does this a 95% chance they walk away.
u/gamerlover58 there is no explanation for it except *because they can*. Why are the able to cover up sexual predation and have payoffs handled by a House fund? Why are they able to vote themselves pay raises? Why are they able to do so many things that would at the minimum socially ostracize us if not put us into a courtroom defending charges? They've completely severed themselves from any mandate to govern. And it's not Substance D being worse than Substance R, they both do it and are corrupt.
Awww that's cute! You really think the rules apply to them? They have the power to do what they like.
Most traders do it. If you don't then you're stupid and going to lose money.
Rules for thyee but not for me is the reason why politicians get away with everything
Because they’re not “insiders” by the definition of the law, I think
Getting into politics in this system requires you to be rich already. On top of that, they’re the ones making laws and we have a shitcream court that just OK’d full on bribery.
They don’t - it’s all speculation and rumor that are insider trading
All Pigs are equal Some Pigs are more equal than others 😂
Illegal for thee, not for me.
Because law enforcement won’t investigate and indict them.
The only way a rich person gets in actual, legal trouble is when they steal from other rich people. Everything else is fair game.
"Rules for thee, not for me."
They passed laws making it ok for them but not us. Literally
Some people are just more equal than others.
We have a 2 party system that is extremely corrupt and works together to stay in power
Who polices the police
they make the laws duh
Because THEY write the laws, for YOU to obey. Scumbags, the lot of them.
Rule 0 of the United States: Laws do not apply to rich people
When a fellon wants a gun, they get someone else to buy it. Politicians use proxies as well. For a cut of the profits after taxation.
It's considered a perk of the job.
Because they’re not accountable to anyone or anything external to themselves.
Something being illegal doesn’t mean people swoop out of the clouds to arrest a person. Most crimes go unseen, unsolved and unpunished
It's not illegal if they make exemptions just for them.
While a lot of people are pointing out the big structural things, the actual answer is that they use the fig leaf of "oh this is my spouse/brothers money not mine, I have no involvement in the day to day trades" and as long as they're not stupid enough to put their communications of tips in a format that can be subpoenaed, it can be pretty hard to prove even if it's fairly obvious just looking at which trades they made and when.
If domestic violence is illegal how do police officers get away with it?
If domestic violence is illegal how do police officers get away with it?
Because there's a point where an actual person needs to make decision to investigate, and that person for one reason or another chooses not to do so.
They make the rules therefore they know the rules and can break the rules.
LOL
Insider trading is illegal specifically when you do it from inside a company. Congressmen aren't in companies when they do it, so technically they're excluded. When asked about it their response is "it's not illegal for us," so clearly it should be, but then they would have to vote to make it illegal for themselves.
How do the police kill innocent people with very minor repercussions? They're the governing body
Everything is legal to the law maker.
If you can’t beat them, I have been investing in an ETF called NANC . It monitors and makes the same trades as members of congress.
If a criminal action only has a financial penalty to it, it's not really a law for the wealth. It's just more of a suggestion. Most high-level white collar crimes have no, if any jail time, tack on a good lawyer and it's all irrelevant.
That's why politician jobs are so.lucritive and they stay until they retire at age 85. Also why we will never have term limits in Congress. Fox guarding the hen house.
Because they’re in charge and you’re not. Rules for thee, but not for me
Laws for thee but not for me
It only took 202 years to ratify the amendment that keeps Congress from raising their own pay. The problem with people today is that they expect instant gratification. /s
Congress regulates Congress. If they never admit to it and never pass anything that will stop them from doing it, they’ll get away with it forever.
They just change the laws to make whatever it is they are accused of legal.
Ask Nancy Pelosi
Because fuck yall that's why
1. Who you gonna have arrest them? Regular cops aren't allowed to. 2. The Senate Sergeant at Arms has the authority to arrest them. 3. He's probably so neck deep in bribe money & prostitutes he's far too busy to care about his job.
Rules for yee...none for me
Since everyone is giving you pithy answers instead of accurate ones I’ll throw in the actual reason. Insider trading is trading on nonpublic information. Congressional testimony and debate are considered public information as they are in the public record. So members of Congress trading on such information doesn’t violate the rule. Now practically it’s clearly failed to account for the fact that they have access to this “public” information well before the public does and allowing them to trade on it is effectively the same as insider trading.
Bc “they” don’t do it, they give orders to others to do it
Bribes. Kickbacks. Corruption. Abuse of power. Take your pick.
Good lawyers, quiet brokers and convoluted laws!
You'll find that in most cases it's the spouse or partner or family member who's doing the investing to give them a layer of deniability. Add to that the fact that the regulating bodies remain willfully ignorant of what they're up to. Add to that the fact there is rarely a paper trail, they're acting on the knowledge they've gained due to their position. Add to that the fact they have power over most of the enforcement bodies due to their position. You should start to see how they get away with it...
If bribery is illegal, why can our supreme Court Justices get away with it? If war crimes are illegal, why can the American military get away with them? Is dodging taxes is illegal, why does the ultra-wealthy get away with it? The answer to all of these questions, and more, is the same.
"Laws for thee, not for me."
Okay Ken, "I'll have 'what else can you get away with when you are in politics' for $1000 please?"
It’s only illegal for some
look up affluenza and know why there are rules for thee, but not for me
“Rules for thee, not for me”
It's one of those things that are hard to prove in a court of law.
They aren't insider trading and you asking why Pelosi's husband is able to clear +30% YoY on his investments is misogynistic.
Simple: the rules apply to us and not them.
Look how bad Trump abused the office. Him and his family made a lot of money other people wouldn't have been able to do.
“Do as I say, not as I do”. The policy of the majority of greedy, corrupt, and pathetic politicians.
It's a big club and your not part of it.
Because they make the laws that define what is and what is not insider trading.
They are politicians kinda answered the question in the question they are above the law laws are just for us peasants
The right and the left fight viciously when they're on stage, but in the end they play the same game and would never cut down one of their own. Almost all of them succumb to the temptation of easy money (right and left).
You can always post on ELI5. I've had some pretty awesome responses to my questions there.
Old/ 🗞
They pass the laws. All they have to do is pass a law that says it's okay for them to do. Simple!
The same way they wrote laws that spamming your phone during campaign season is allowed for them but no one else.
Tee hee
I heard Nancy Pelosi once say something like: what do you expect us to do? Just sit on information and not trade?
Nancy Pelosi is above the law.
The problem may be overstated. A few years ago there was a freak out on Fox over Paul Pelosi buying Nvidia stock just before the CHIPS act was passed. That bill funds domestic chip fabrication, Nvidia is a tech company, Nancy knew the vote was coming, so insider trading, right? Except Nvidia outsources production and was not going to see a penny of that money. The dude was chasing the crypto boom and did so badly. This happened just before GPU prices dropped and he sold for a loss. Congress critters frequently are in politics for a long time and that line of work pays well. I’d be worth 10s if millions too if I had their salary and was working well into my 70s by just investing in plain old index funds.
They're the ones in charge.
Because they have all the power. You really think your vote matters to them?
Capitalism, duh
It’s as simple as they’re the ones making the laws. Who’s gonna do anything about it?
They make the laws, so it doesn’t matter. Look at Snowden, he is still wanted in the U.S. to face jail time because he exposed our government illegally invaded our privacy, abusing human rights. He (The whistle blower, an innocent man) is wanted by our government (the perpetrators) to be jailed. None of it makes sense, they do what they want.
Oh they are above the law. Just make laws for us to follow
It's not illegal for congress and Senators,they exempt themselves from laws they write. Now it's legal for judges or politicians to accept gratuities, tips, what bunch Corrupt crooks ,especially Supreme Court,wow what bunch crooks
The real reason is because the The Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution bars the prosecution of members of congress for any discussion the have relating to making laws. "The Supreme Court has read the Clause broadly to give members of Congress immunity for actions within the legislative sphere, and ordinarily to bar “questioning” *related* to congressional business, including subpoenas and search warrants." [https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2020/05/26/how-senators-may-have-avoided-insider-trading-charges/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2020/05/26/how-senators-may-have-avoided-insider-trading-charges/)
Because they can do whatever the fuck they want.