Dem Elaine Luria slams proposals to ban stock trading by lawmakers: 'This whole concept is bullshit'

[Celerity]

Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia said "the whole concept" of banning lawmakers from stock trading is "bullshit."
She and her husband own millions of dollars in stocks and traded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stocks last year.
Pelosi has opened the door to banning stock trading for lawmakers, and momentum is quickly building.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elaine-luria-opposes-stock-trade-ban-lawmakers-2022-2



Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia came out strongly against proposals to ban lawmakers from trading stocks, saying on Wednesday that the "whole concept is bullshit." Her comments echoed those of Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who has violated the STOCK Act 132 times, and called the idea "ridiculous."

Asked by Punchbowl News' Max Cohen about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's reported openness to banning the practice, Luria — one of the caucus' more vulnerable members in 2022 and a member of the committee investigating the January 6 riot — didn't mince words.

"I think this whole concept is bullshit," she said. "Because I think that, why would you assume that members of Congress are going to be inherently bad or corrupt? We already have the STOCK Act that requires people to report stock trades."

Punchbowl also reported that Luria raised the issue during a recent meeting with other vulnerable "frontline" Democrats — those who represent swing seats and are at the highest risk of losing reelection. Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa, who has violated the STOCK Act at least 40 times, also voiced concerns.

snip

https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2020/10042701.pdf

Luria has a heavy position in publicly traded stocks. Luria and her husband, Robert Blondin, own between $1 million-$5 million in Facebook stock, $1 million-$5 million in ​​NVIDIA stock and $500,000-$1 million in Netflix stock.

[elleng]

1. whathisname agreed with her.

Where is HE now?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cantor

[Celerity]

2. I am extremely disappointed in any Democrat who defends this corrupt loophole. If any private

citizen did what many congress people do, they would likely go to prison. It is also outrageous that people can sit on Committees that oversee the areas they have monies invested in or make income from (sometimes in the millions, like Manchin and coal, with him the Chair of the Senate Energy Committee).

[elleng]

3. For information, employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission were/are limited

by the duration for which they could hold and transfer securities; they were not prohibited from holding, but could not buy and sell without time constraint. (My husband was employed there, 10+ years ago; I don't know whether the rules have changed.)

[Dorian Gray]

5. I agree

I DON'T think that they should be forced to sell their holdings upon winning an election, though I do think that they should be put into a "blind trust." Which should be a streamlined process for them. (They can keep their money managers/etc. But the trading happens without their knowledge based upon their manager's instincts.) Or put it into index funds while they're serving their terms.

For Luria not to realize she has access to info that the rest of us don't have, which gives her a corrupt edge in investing.... Well.... I bet she's smart enough to realize that.

Very few people will vote against their own benefit.

[atreides1]

8. Blind trust is a ruse

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/why-blind-trusts-for-members-of-congress-are-a-ruse/ar-AASW3PN


Here's what Mitt Romney, currently the wealthiest senator (with a net worth of $250 million), had to say about blind trusts: "The blind trust is an age-old ruse, if you will. Which is to say, you can always tell a blind trust what it can and cannot do."


If elected to Congress, members must divest from all individual stocks. No "blind trust" loophole. It must be a legitimate divesting. If they want to invest in something, they should get U.S. Savings Bonds, which invests them in the long-term financial health of the country. Or an I-bond, which is indexed to inflation. They would never fall behind or get ahead of where they started.

[Dorian Gray]

11. Interesting

I am an investor and not a politician. I would agree to invest in index mutual funds. But I would never agree to just bonds.

No plans to run for office so this doesn’t affect me. But retirement plans and everything else just completely in bonds will never happen.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Since one member violated STOCK Act 40 times, it obviously is not enough, despite Luria's claims. nt

[Celerity]

6. Rethug Tommy Tuberville of Alabama violated the STOCK Act 132 times, & there were others with even

more violations.

Rep. Diana Harshbarger, a Republican from Tennessee, for instance, had more than 700 violations that together are worth as much as $10.9 million.

https://www.businessinsider.com/diana-harshbarger-congress-stocks-violation-stock-act-trades-tennessee-2021-8


Rep. Susie Lee, a Democrat from Nevada, more than 200 violations worth as much as $3.3 million.

https://www.businessinsider.com/susie-lee-nevada-congress-stock-act-trades-disclosure-2021-9


Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York had about 300 violations with a value as high as $11 million.

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/22/1039287987/outside-ethics-group-says-7-house-lawmakers-didnt-disclose-stock-trades

[MissMillie]

7. I keep thinking of Pete Rose

betting on baseball.

[atreides1]

9. She really said this!!!

"Because I think that, why would you assume that members of Congress are going to be inherently bad or corrupt? We already have the STOCK Act that requires people to report stock trades."

The STOCK Act of 2012 that only requires disclosures (which is how we found out about the scammers listed above) has few teeth and, has never been seriously enforced!!!

It's funny how Martha Stewart went to prison for insider trading, but Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville, also one of the insiders in the January 6th coup attempt, broke the laws on insider trading that would have landed you in prison over 130 times, and cashed out $849,000 in the process.

And Luria wonders why voters assume that members of Congress are going to be inherently bad or corrupt...

[NightWatcher]

10. Tell me you're profiting from your public service job without saying the actual word.