Members of Congress Inside Stock Trading

Very Disturbing, CBS "60 Minutes reporting on Inside Stock Trading by Members of Congress.

(CBS News)  Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information - but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it's time for the law to change.

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The following is a script of "Insiders" which aired on Nov. 13, 2011. Steve Kroft is correspondent, Ira Rosen and Gabrielle Schonder, producers.

The next national election is now less than a year away and congressmen and senators are expending much of their time and their energy raising the millions of dollars in campaign funds they'll need just to hold onto a job that pays $174,000 a year.


Few of them are doing it for the salary and all of them will say they are doing it to serve the public. But there are other benefits: Power, prestige, and the opportunity to become a Washington insider with access to information and connections that no one else has, in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country, don't always apply to them.

Questioning Pelosi: Steve Kroft heads to D.C.
When Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, and other lawmakers wouldn't answer Steve Kroft's questions, he headed to Washington to get some answers about their stock trades.
Most former congressmen and senators manage to leave Washington - if they ever leave Washington - with more money in their pockets than they had when they arrived, and as you are about to see, the biggest challenge is often avoiding temptation.

Peter Schweizer: This is a venture opportunity. This is an opportunity to leverage your position in public service and use that position to enrich yourself, your friends, and your family.

Peter Schweizer is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University. A year ago he began working on a book about soft corruption in Washington with a team of eight student researchers, who reviewed financial disclosure records. It became a jumping off point for our own story, and we have independently verified the material we've used.


Schweizer says he wanted to know why some congressmen and senators managed to accumulate significant wealth beyond their salaries, and proved particularly adept at buying and selling stocks.
Schweizer: There are all sorts of forms of honest grafts that congressmen engage in that allow them to become very, very wealthy. So it's not illegal, but I think it's highly unethical, I think it's highly offensive, and wrong.

Steve Kroft: What do you mean honest graft?

Schweizer: For example insider trading on the stock market. If you are a member of Congress, those laws are deemed not to apply.

Kroft: So congressman get a pass on insider trading?

Schweizer: They do. The fact is, if you sit on a healthcare committee and you know that Medicare, for example, is-- is considering not reimbursing for a certain drug that's market moving information. And if you can trade stock on-- off of that information and do so legally, that's a great profit making opportunity. And that sort of behavior goes on.

Kroft: Why does Congress get a pass on this?

Schweizer: It's really the way the rules have been defined. And the people who make the rules are the political class in Washington. And they've conveniently written them in such a way that they don't apply to themselves.
The buying and selling of stock by corporate insiders who have access to non-public information that could affect the stock price can be a criminal offense, just ask hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam who recently got 11 years in prison for doing it. But, congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been considered exempt from insider trading laws, even though they have daily access to non-public information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.


Schweizer: We know that during the healthcare debate people were trading healthcare stocks. We know that during the financial crisis of 2008 they were getting out of the market before the rest of America really knew what was going on.

In mid September 2008 with the Dow Jones Industrial average still above ten thousand, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were holding closed door briefings with congressional leaders, and privately warning them that a global financial meltdown could occur within a few days. One of those attending was Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus, then the ranking Republican member on the House Financial Services Committee and now its chairman.

Schweizer: These meetings were so sensitive-- that they would actually confiscate cell phones and Blackberries going into those meetings. What we know is that those meetings were held one day and literally the next day Congressman Bachus would engage in buying stock options based on apocalyptic briefings he had the day before from the Fed chairman and treasury secretary. I mean, talk about a stock tip.


While Congressman Bachus was publicly trying to keep the economy from cratering, he was privately betting that it would, buying option funds that would go up in value if the market went down. He would make a variety of trades and profited at a time when most Americans were losing their shirts.


Congressman Bachus declined to talk to us, so we went to his office and ran into his Press Secretary Tim Johnson.

Meeting With Senator Kay Hagan

Campaigning in Polk County Today

Our Campaign is campaigning in Polk County today.  We will be visiting the towns of

Columbus (Downtown, near the Court House, and Veterans Park)

Cooper’s Gap (Downtown)

Historical Green Creek Township

Saluda (Downtown and Pace’s General Store)

Tryon (Downtown and Historical Trade Street)

Town of White Oak

We are looking forward to meeting everyone.

Canvassing Today

Our campaign team is in Lincoln and Cleveland County canvassing today.  Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Bill Clinton believes that the "Wealthy" should pay more taxes, including himself

Former President Bill Clinton’s position on when the government should raise taxes took another turn during his Wednesday night appearance on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Clinton said last night he does not think now is the time to raise taxes on anyone because the economy is not growing, but advocated for a hike on the rich after the situation improves.

“Should you raise taxes on anybody right today — rich or poor or middle class? No, because there’s no growth in the economy,” Clinton said on the “Late Show.” “Should those of us who make more money and are in better position to contribute to America’s public needs and getting this deficit under control pay a higher tax rate when the economy recovers? Yes, that’s what I think.”

With that, Clinton reemphasized his support of the “Buffett Rule,” President Barack Obama’s proposed tax increase for those earning annual incomes of $1 million or more — with one critical difference.
Obama’s proposal would take effect in 2013, but Clinton says he prefers a much less specific time to institute the Buffett Rule: whenever the economy recovers.
On Friday, Clinton shot back at an American Crossroads ad that used a September interview he gave to Newsmax to attack Obama’s jobs plan. Left out of Clinton’s statement was the critical issue of timing he raised to Newsmax and Letterman.
In the Newsmax interview, Clinton said he opposed raising taxes while the economy remained down — a statement he reiterated on last night’s “Late Show.”
“I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending, either one, until we get this economy off the ground,” Clinton told Newsmax in the Sept. interview. “This has been a dead flat economy.”

American Crossroads leapt on the comments, going up with an ad last week hitting Obama’s plan to raise taxes on wealthy Americans featuring lines from Clinton’s interview.
“I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes,” Clinton says in the ad. “It won’t solve the problem.”
The two lines, however, were more than three minutes apart in his discussion with Newsmax — the second statement came later in the interview when the former president said he would pay the increased tax on the wealthy. “It’s okay with me, I’d pay more, but it won’t solve the problem,” he said.

Clinton quickly shot back at American Crossroads, issuing a statement last Friday saying the group mischaracterized his statements. But unlike his comments to Newsmax and Letterman, Clinton left out his oft-repeated argument in favor of boosting millionaires’ taxes when the economy “recovers” or gets “off the ground.”

“The Republican Group American Crossroads has used a quote from me in a video opposing President Obama’s jobs plan and the ‘Buffett Rule,’” Clinton said in a statement to POLITICO Playbook on the ad. “The advertisement implies that I opposed the ‘Buffett Rule.’ In fact, I support both the American Jobs Act and the ‘Buffett Rule.’ I believe that it’s only fair to ask those of us in high-income groups — who have received the primary benefits of the last decade’s economic growth and the majority of its tax cuts as well — to contribute to solving our long term debt problem.”

“What I did say was that the ‘Buffett Rule’ cannot solve the problem alone. Reducing the debt requires three things: more economic growth, more spending cuts, and more revenue. Right now, the most important thing is to put America back to work. That’s why I support the American Jobs Act.”

OKTOBERFEST IN HICKORY, NC

Our campaign had a very successful day at Oktoberfest in Hickory. We met a lot of great people, and we handed out every brochure, every pamphlet, every sign, and every piece of literature that we had on us. Very successful day. I wanted to thank everyone for their hard work. It is paying off.

Oktoberfest in Hickory, NC

Our campaign is currently in Hickory for Oktoberfest.  We are meeting some great people.  We have a booth at the event, and would love for everyone to come out and join us.  Great Food, Great People!!!!!  You cannot beat it.