It's good to work for the government
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Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that thousands of officials across the U.S. government’s executive branch disclosed owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made.
Across 50 federal agencies ranging from the Commerce Department to the Treasury Department, more than 2,600 officials reported stock investments in companies while those companies were lobbying their agencies for favorable policies, during both Republican and Democratic administrations. When the financial holdings caused a conflict, the agencies sometimes simply waived the rules.
Among the findings of the investigation, which is the most comprehensive analysis of stock trading by officials in the executive branch of the government:
Numerous federal officials owned shares of companies lobbying their agencies:
More than 200 senior officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, or nearly one in three, reported that they or their family members held investments in companies that were lobbying the agency. EPA employees and their family members collectively owned between $400,000 and nearly $2 million in shares of oil and gas companies on average each year between 2016 and 2021.
At the Defense Department, officials in the office of the secretary or their family members collectively owned between $1.2 million and $3.4 million of stock in aerospace and defense companies, on average, during years the Journal examined. Some owned stock in Chinese companies while the U.S. considered blacklisting the companies.
An EPA official reported purchases of oil and gas stocks. The Food and Drug Administration improperly let an official own dozens of food and drug stocks on its no-buy list. A Defense Department official bought stock in a defense company five times before it won new business from the Pentagon.
Some officials traded ahead of regulatory actions:
More than five dozen officials at five agencies reported trading stocks of companies shortly before their departments announced enforcement actions against those companies, such as charges or settlements.
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I think it is a clear and present danger to the Republic. Any elected or appointed official should have all investments placed in a blind trust, which must stay there for the duration of his service and 24 months after severance. People are getting rich while serving and that is simply not right.
All Federal employees should be subject to only investments provided by the Thrift Plan, which will be limited to mutual funds or Treasury Securities, with the makeup of the plan reviewed yearly.
Lastly, with today's technology, Washington needs to be broken up (one of the best ideas Trump had) with some agencies relocated to better serve the public. For instance...Department of Ag to the Midwest, Department of the Interior to the West, etc. This also has the benefit of negating bloc voting by Federal employees and appointees in Virginia and Maryland.
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At Credit Suisse we had to use their brokerage or an aligned discount brokerage for all trades. We had a restricted list which included all clients. Trades were monitored after the fact for M&A targets to make sure nobody got wind of a deal and traded on it.
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There are folks who follow the investment strategies of congress critters - and post their most recent trades. It's how they all do so well on their meager salaries - and why no one ever seems to get in much trouble since if everyone is dealing corruptly, one doesn't want to look too deeply into the corruption of others.
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There are folks who follow the investment strategies of congress critters - and post their most recent trades. It's how they all do so well on their meager salaries - and why no one ever seems to get in much trouble since if everyone is dealing corruptly, one doesn't want to look too deeply into the corruption of others.
@kluurs said in It's good to work for the government:
follow the investment strategies of congress critters
Where do I find this information?
(of course, asking for a friend)
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@kluurs said in It's good to work for the government:
follow the investment strategies of congress critters
Where do I find this information?
(of course, asking for a friend)
@George-K said in It's good to work for the government:
@kluurs said in It's good to work for the government:
follow the investment strategies of congress critters
Where do I find this information?
(of course, asking for a friend)
