Do Lawmakers Legally Insider Trade?

Lawmakers possess many perks. However, legal insider trading may be the biggest fringe benefit of all.

A study* released by Professor Alan Ziobrowski at Georgia State University concluded legislators in Congress make "significant abnormal returns." Moreover, active traders outperform corporate executives. "We have every reason to believe they are trading on information that the rest of us don't have," reports Ziobrowski.

How the hell is this bullshit going on? Craig Holman at consumer watchdog organization Public Citizen notes, "The Securities and Exchange Act does not apply to members of Congress, congressional staff, or even lobbyists." Outraged?

If you are a voting citizen, your public representatives can legally trade investment vehicles based on information received at work. And much information is gleaned long before trickling down to the good 'ole People. Thus, as you already deduced, a major conflict of interest exists when your political representative must choose between your needs and those of his/her portfolio.

This is another example of the cosmic irony in which Wall Street is overseen by Washington yet no one is overseeing DC. During my interview with Congressman Alan Grayson he explained the importance of auditing the Federal Reserve. While we're making a list and checking it twice, let's get lawmaker insider trading into the "Must Do Now" column.

* The study used hundreds of personal financial disclosures and more than 6000 stock transactions by members of Congress going back up to 15 years.

Source: American Public Media.