Every member of Congress has daily updates and get insider info on businesses and stocks!

It would be an interesting case study to see if a good trader could get voted into office and then abuse this position of power repeatedly and forcefully until the laws were changed. Like instead of just selling Citigroup before the crash, short it to high heaven too (plus Lehman Brothers).
 
This has been going on for a long time. Example: say you knew the Obama Admin thru EPA would put a stranglehold on the coal industry. Buy it or sell it?

This is one of the main reasons they get so wealthy "serving the public good."
 
callmepaul said:
Excuse my naiveness, but is it 'legal' for them to trade on that info?
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"Legal" is an interesting term in Washington. Many in DC are fond of saying "there are laws and then there are laws".

To answer your question...many congressman have been trading on insider info for years (and it's been widely reported) and no one has ever done anything about it. There might be something on paper, but in the absence of consequences the paper has no value.
 
10% alpha on their insider trades makes you wonder why people bother to run hedge funds and instead just try to elected to public office and fleece the public.

http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...nal-stock-pickers-as-good-as-warren-buff.aspx

The STOCK act tried to make this illegal but the Congress wrote in some loopholes and removed most of the disclosure requirements.

http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1081&context=student_papers

Then when the SEC tried to go after one of their staffers for leaking info to hedge funds, they fought that tooth and nail, successfully AFAICT.

https://theintercept.com/2015/05/07/congress-argues-cant-investigated-insider-trading/

What's the difference between a law that doesn't work and isn't enforced and no law?
 
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