Congressional Staffers Gain From Trading in Stocks - WSJ.com

Congressional Staffers Gain From Trading in Stocks - WSJ.com

I don't know which is more despicable, the unethical actions of these public employees, or the fact that they get paid $170,000/yr.

This is CLEARLY a case of insider trading. They had non-public information and they traded on it for personal gain. See: Martha Stewart. At the very least, there should be some sort of code of ethics violation here -- in the accounting profession, CPAs are not permitted to own or trade the stocks of their clients because of the (potential) conflict of interest - real or perceived - that could arise from having access to information that is not publicly available. What is the difference here? Nothing.

How these individuals are not being prosecuted is unfathomable. Encourage your elected representatives to pass the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. The only reason there isn't more support for the legislation in Washington is because the people that are supposed to be serving our best interests are taking advantage of the system.

Unanticipated Consequences:

1. Basic Values: These individuals valued making a quick buck over ethical action.  The conflict of interest will hopefully be resolved if the American people act to force the passing of a law that makes these actions illegal, thereby forcing a change in Basic Values.

Economic Nonsense From Ezra Klein at The Washington Post -- Seeking Alpha

Economic Nonsense From Ezra Klein at The Washington Post -- Seeking Alpha

Not particularly well written, but he makes some great points. The unfunded pension liability in this country is scary.

Key Sentence: "Kicking the can down the road solves nothing."

Unanticipated Consequences:

1. Immediate Interests: Focusing on current unemployment levels, many of the proposed solutions to unemployment ignore the long-term effects of such solutions (hyper-inflation, lower productivity levels, etc.).

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Interactive Map of Public Pension Plans; How Badly Underfunded are the Plans in Your State?

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Interactive Map of Public Pension Plans; How Badly Underfunded are the Plans in Your State?

Brings a new meaning to red states and blue states.

Unanticipated Consequences:

1. Error: Using recent historical assumptions for anticipated future growth has resulted in massive underfunding of public pension plans.
2. Immediate Interests: Focusing on paying current retirees is ignoring the fact that there will be nothing in left in the bank to pay current workers.

Bailout Ends, Not Anger

‎"An unwillingness by policy makers to let people pay for their own mistakes." We have all just witnessed the death of capitalism.

Conflicts of Interest

Two headlines I saw today: 1) "White House report shows stimulus package is on time, under budget," 2) "Treasury estimates TARP will cost far less than expected."

This is the definition of conflict of interest - the entities that created these monstrosities are telling us that they are working out according to plan. Pretty much the same thing Bernie Madoff told his clients.