Revealed: how US senators invest in the firms they're supposed to regulate

[Judi Lynn]

Alex Kotch of Sludge
Thu 19 Sep 2019 02.00 EDT

As they set national policy on important issues such as climate change, tech monopolies, medical debt and income inequality, US senators have glaring conflicts of interest, an investigation by news website Sludge and the Guardian can reveal.

An analysis of personal financial disclosure data as of 16 August has found that 51 senators and their spouses have as much as $96m personally invested in corporate stocks in five key sectors: communications/electronics; defense; energy and natural resources; finance, insurance and real estate; and health.

The majority of these stocks come from public companies, and some are private.

Overall, the senators are invested in 338 companies – including tech firms such as Apple and Microsoft, oil and gas giants including ExxonMobil and Antero Midstream, telecom companies including Verizon, and major defense contractors such as Boeing – in the five sectors as categorized by Sludge.

Congressional financial disclosures present investments in dollar ranges, not exact amounts, so all data in this report comes in ranges, some very wide. The median stock investment range in the five sectors for the 51 senators is between $100,000 and $365,000, while the average range of the investments is between $551,000 and nearly $1,874,000.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/19/us-senators-investments-conflict-of-interest

[3Hotdogs]

1. Maybe that's why the emoluments clause isn't being examined.

[MsLeopard]

2. I believe they made it legal

For them and their aides to use insider information to make investments. It was several years ago, during Bush Jr., I think. Just right out in the open said it’s ok for them to use insider info, but no one else. That’s why they do it, for them there’s no consequence. As usual.

[Blue_playwright]

3. Random thought

They don’t have a huge base salary although they do have an enviable retirement.

If we disallowed politicians from investing in public stocks, how would they then best be able to save for their future, their kids’ future? Most won’t have a speaking career or book deal.

Just a random thought. Most Congress Critters are probably honest folks (in theory). 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t know much about investing so this thread just made me think. It’s fair that they would want to invest and just about everything can come under Congressional oversight at some point -food, automakers, etc.

Just thoughts...