On November 13th, “60 Minutes” aired a piece on insider trading by members of Congress, who use information garnered in private meetings from lobbyists or agency regulators regarding publicly-traded companies and then use what they’ve learned to buy or sell stocks — all in secret, with no one looking over their shoulders. If that were done by a Wall Street executive, it would be a felony. But Congress has exempted itself from punishment and oversight.
After the TV show aired, dozens of senators or congresspeople hastily signed onto new legislation to curtail the practice, but as Professor Jonathan Macey of Yale Law School explained to me on KTRS/St. Louis this morning, the bill would not really solve the problem. In fact, he says, there’s likely to be more congressional insider trading after the statute becomes law…
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