As first reported by the Daily Mail, a campaign to prevent members of Congress from owning or trading stocks is starting to gain traction. With watchdog groups uncovering findings that members of Congress made $1 billion in just 2023 alone, and many outpacing the market by a significant amount, it’s suspicious. Outcries of knowing the market, being lucky, or just good timing are starting to fall on deaf ears.
It’s hard to ignore the evidence when people like Nancy Pelosi have made $100 million in profit since 2019 and a 65% return in 2023 alone. This kind of insane margin is far beyond what top-paid experts can achieve. Her outperformance of the market at large has also come with clear signs of insider trading, so now the ETHICS Act could change all of that. Still needing significant support before it becomes law, it could change everything about the markets.
Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) is the biggest success story of the bunch, with a 238% return on his investments in 2023. All coming from companies who saw surges in pricing due to government interference, and shorting companies who he knew would be seeing a plunge also via government, actions his trading is largely done immorally if not illegally. While no lawmaker has been accused of insider trading in a courtroom or legal setting, the writing is on the wall.
RepresentUs CEO Joshua Graham Lynn is like many other Americans and tired of politicians profiting as the average American suffers. “It’s outrageous that members of Congress are gaming the stock market while millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet. I’d call it gangster behavior, but that would imply it’s illegal and, sadly, it is not…The overwhelming majority of Americans want this to stop. So let’s make it stop.”
People like Pelosi have supported previous attempts to pass this kind of legislation, but she believes it needs to include all Government employees, not just those at the top. With so many other employees having investments of their own, it seems unlikely her version would fly.
