Stock Trade Ban for Congress Is Being Readied for Release in US House

I suspect you're probably right to be apprehensive, but it's a slight step forward from a few months back when they were signaling that a bill wasn't necessary. Progress, I guess?

That would be criminal conspiracy. Not a wise idea for an elected official that wants to avoid fines and possible imprisonment.

just because the boat will still be leaky doesn't mean you shouldn't try and plug the holes

start with the biggest one and work your way down

De-anonymize trading.

It can pass, but with loopholes.

Why?

To throw dust in voters’ eyes. And make it harder to get people in congress indicted for insider trading. Oh I was following ex rule which allows me to give nudges via that pathway to my investment portfolio.

Well, they do ultimately depend on the voters believing that they will have some kind of integrity. If they have to go up against a challenger in the fall who says, "Senator X is so corrupt they voted to continue insider trading for themselves", that's a risk they have to manage.

It's not an automatic win for the opponent. Some people are incensed by it, but I don't think it's really on anybody's top 10 list. ("The economy" is always #1. Currently, guns and crime are #2 and #3. "Size and scope of the federal government" is the closest item on the list, and it's #11.)

No matter where you think their self-interest lies, it always runs through keeping their voters happy. Voters hate Congress in general but are usually strongly in favor of their own representatives. Challengers use anything they can to upset this, and there's a wedge issue here.

One other thing: most legislators don't get any of the access they would need to seriously inform trades. A few do, and they tend to be on the most powerful committees -- meaning they have seniority, which means their constituents like them a lot and aren't easily deterred by things like this. But other Congresspeople aren't relying on making money this way and aren't necessarily fans of those who are (even within their own party).

Good excuse for exiting the market without latter being accused of rushing out in front of a policy induced crash?

You can't stop bribes without making legislative votes secret again. There's always a way to thread kickbacks to skirt any law. The only solution is to remove the feedback mechanism.

ummm, excuuuuuuse you, they're called "lobbying efforts"! /s

I imagine the bigger downside is how their votes will change than the amount of money they make.