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Home Front: Politix

How US senators invest in firms they are supposed to regulate

2019-09-20

[Guardian] 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.

Posted by:Besoeker

#8 Not corrupt if you have no morals, and that seem to be part of the problem.

Posted by: Bobby 2019-09-20 18:53

#7 Crony capitalists such as Warren Buffet make out quite well, too. Quite well.

His dad was a congress-critter. Junior learned early on how important government regulation can be for a company's competitive position.

His concept of a "moat" was almost always applied to companies that benefited from near-monopoly status, or favorable regulatory treatment: insurance companies and local newspapers were early favorites, including the Government Employees Insurance Company. His recent wins came from arbitraging the government bailout of Wall Street.

But his biggest scam of all has been to use Congress's favorable tax treatment of debt to borrow against his holding companies and thereby juice up his equity returns.

The man who rails against hedge funds is himself running a gigantic hedge fund. According to academics who've studied his returns, about 60% of his fund's performance can be attributed to financial leverage.

And he's our folk hero investor. We are living through the most corrupt period in over 100 years.

Posted by: Lex 2019-09-20 16:43

#6 It's not illegal if you're the one who writes the law.

Posted by: Abu Uluque 2019-09-20 13:52

#5 Shitshow, Part 93.

Most corrupt era in US history since the Robber Baron days.

Posted by: Lex 2019-09-20 13:38

#4 Not just Senators, but Congresscritters and the Office of the President itself. How else could Obama afford his new pad?

Posted by: BA 2019-09-20 12:56

#3 Johnny Caspar talks about ethics...

Posted by: M. Murcek 2019-09-20 11:55

#2 Politics are the best business there is - if you're willing to take risks. Academia is the best if you aren't.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-09-20 11:00

#1 Peter Schweitzer wrote a book about ten years ago about what goes on in Capitol Hill (both parties) that would put us in jail for insider trading. And, of course, it's all perfectly legal, even House & Senate "ethics" committees bless off on this.
Crony capitalists such as Warren Buffet make out quite well, too. Quite well.

Posted by: Clem 2019-09-20 05:10

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