In 2014, MapLight reported that round half of Congress owned particular person stocks, however many extra have cash in funding funds, which means their wealth remains to be tied to the general well being of the stock market. Shops regularly report on conflicts of curiosity between members’ particular person stocks and their duties: investments in pharmaceutical and biotech firms, for instance, or fossil fuels. There isn’t any apparent motive why this form of particular person buying and selling needs to be allowed in any respect, as many identified within the wake of the latest scandals. However it’s not nice, both, if members of Congress stand to revenue from episodes just like the market’s latest fart-huffing explosion, enabled by the bailout they permitted. In distinction to members of Congress, about half of Individuals don’t personal any stock in any respect. Solely 14 % of households personal stock immediately; the remaining have their cash in funding automobiles like 401(okay)s. And the highest one % of Individuals personal over 40 % of the stock, whereas the underside 60 % personal simply 1.eight %. The proof reveals that for most individuals, selecting particular person stocks is a mug’s sport, and that you just’re a lot better off simply sticking your cash in an index fund and letting it develop with the market. But there’s additionally analysis displaying that members of Congress have been capable of beat the market, implying they actually did commerce on insider info (although the research additionally discovered that the implementation of the STOCK Act eradicated this benefit). The members of Congress implicated within the Nice Coronavirus Promote-Off Scandal have largely defended themselves by saying they don’t personally handle their stocks. The workplace of Consultant Phil Roe informed The Hill that he “does not manage his personal stock investments and uses a third-party investment manager to handle personal stock purchases and sales.” How can members of Congress make a lot cash from an exercise they declare they aren’t concerned in in any respect?How can members of Congress make a lot cash from an exercise they declare they aren’t concerned in in any respect? Simply, as a result of the stock market is basically simply One Bizarre Trick for the already rich to extend their wealth. You probably have $1 million already, you possibly can simply stick that sucker in a fund and watch the pot develop and develop, with out doing something. You don’t should have any ability or labor to take action; you simply should have already got cash. You pay a wealth supervisor, or simply a pc, to develop your wealth for you. It’s the Rosebud cheat within the Sims, however in actual life, with precise cash that may purchase you actual furnishings. This might be one factor if the success of the stock market was in any respect tied to the success of the American individuals—if the stock market went up, and members of Congress profited, when good jobs had been created, or employees had been paid extra, or extra individuals had medical insurance—however the reverse is true. It goes up when issues worsen, as evidenced by its steady progress throughout a interval of Complete Shit for many Individuals. It goes up when Aetna finds a brand new approach to kick individuals off their medical insurance, or when Eli Lilly costs a brand new drug at greater than the common American earns in a 12 months, or when Exxon finds an enormous new gloop of oil to show into atmosphere-choking fuel. Members of Congress know this. They know that companies’ earnings are tied to dangerous, anti-worker, anti-human choices by their boards. You may’t actually anticipate the Republican Occasion to care a lot about that—that’s form of its complete model—however many, if not most, Democrats are in the identical scenario. Virginia senator and Democrat Mark Warner is the richest member of Congress.
