(Patriot Insider) – The Democrats have always been really good at pretending to be against the things they actually partake in and support. For example, they love pretending to care about the lives of black Americans but all they’ve ever done is support legislation and policies to keep them economically oppressed, such as the entire welfare system.
Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thinks she’s fooling America by suddenly being very concerned about members of Congress enriching themselves with stock trades and even supports a bill that she claims will stop it.
The only problem is the bill has some glaring loopholes that will actually allow the opposite to happen. Nobody is being fooled by these tricks anymore.
Last week, Pelosi took up a sudden interest in new rules to govern how members of Congress deal in stocks.
Though her concern seems to be new, there has been concern for months over the millions of dollars members of Congress have made in the stock market. The obvious concern is that congressional members are using insider information based on how legislation will affect certain companies to make decisions regarding buying and selling.
Pelosi has signed onto a stock trading ban for members of Congress called the Ban Conflicted Trading Act. It “prohibits a Member of Congress or certain congressional officers or employees from (1) purchasing or selling specified investments, (2) entering into a transaction that creates a net short position in a security, or (3) serving as an officer or member of any board of any for-profit entity.”
Naturally, the bill leaves out one key component that’s pretty hard to overlook. It says nothing about family members of Congress. What’s the point of this supposed ban if members of Congress are still permitted to guide their family members in making shady and lucrative deals?
Of course, there isn’t one. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
There’s absolutely no point to this bill unless family members of Congress are also banned from trading stocks with insider information.
Pelosi, a millionaire herself, went to great lengths to point out that other branches of government do not require members to report stock trades and noted that the US Supreme Court does not ask justices to do so.
“And yet it makes important decisions every day,” Pelosi said of the court. “I do believe in the integrity of people in public service. I want the public to have that understanding. We have to do this to deter something that we see as a problem, but it is a confidence issue. And if that’s what the members want to do, then that’s what we will do.”
“But it’s complicated, and members will figure it out, and then we’ll go forward with what the consensus is,” Pelosi insisted.
As you probably already imagined, Nancy’s new concerns about congressional stock trading is new and a complete about-face from her position on the matter just last year when she was suddenly a big promoter of capitalism in the face of similar concerns.
Just this past December, Pelosi dismissed concerns about the issue, saying, “We’re a free-market economy,” and added that her fellow Congressmen “should be able to participate in that.”
It’s only fitting for Pelosi to take that position. We would expect her to take that position considering her fortune of $120 million has been amassed in part thanks to many shady stock trades that have caught attention for how lucky they’ve been.
She even doubled down on her position later in December and insisted Congress doesn’t need any new rules governing stock trades among Congress members. She proved her position with a slew of new trades herself.
According to her disclosures, Pelosi purchased between $1.75 and $3.6 million worth of call options between Dec. 17 and Dec. 22 for companies including Google, Salesforce, Roblox and Disney.
Pelosi’s largest purchases were between $500,000 and $1 million for Google and between $600,000 and $1.25 million for Salesforce.
The real point, however, is that her husband, Paul, made an $11 million move on big tech stocks just as Congress was passing legislation that impacted the tech sector. Coincidence? You’d have to be brain dead to think so.
By the end of January, Pelosi was already starting to yield on the issue saying, “I just don’t buy into it, but if members want to do that, I’m OK with that,” according to NPR.
“I have great confidence in the integrity of my members,” she added, still being casual about concerns.
Among those expressing concerns was President Trump who called on Pelosi to act and support new rules. According to Breitbart News, he said, “She has inside information. It’s not right. It’s not appropriate. It shouldn’t be.”
“I happen to watch her and see her and dealt with her a lot, and I think she’s clever in one way and stone cold crazy. She should not be allowed to do that with the stocks. She should not be allowed to do that. It’s not fair to the rest of this country,” Trump added.
Trump’s absolutely right, Pelosi, nor any other member of Congress, should be permitted to enrich themselves using their insider knowledge. It’s obviously wrong and unethical. Pelosi, however, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Her support of the bill is a charade. She knows there are loopholes so she can continue making her millions. The only reason she’s even pretending to care now is because the midterm elections are this year and she knows the Democrats are in big trouble.
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