In typical Washington lying politician style, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claims that the recent report on 60 Minutes about congressional insider trading and her and her husband's involvement in it left out some key information. Her office spokesperson also claims that the report is a right wing smear. Really, so when the left wing media does a report catching Pelosi red handed, it becomes a right wing smear.
What was the key information left out of the report? Well, Ms Pelosi profited from the 2008 Visa IPO by buying 5,000 shares of the company and then two days later the stock went up to $64 giving Pelosi and her husband a $100,000 profit. At the time of the IPO Pelosi saw to it that a bill potentially harming to credit card companies never made it to the floor of the House to be voted on. According to Nancy Pelosi's spokesperson the key information left out of the report was that on October 3, 2008 the legislation in question was passed and moved out of the House Judiciary Committee. That's great Nancy, the Visa IPO happened on March 19, 2008 nearly 7 months after Nancy and her husband made a handsome profit, so how is your obfuscating denial even relevant?
Spokesperson Drew Hammill then went on to say of the author of the book exposing the congressional insider trading scam that, "It is very troubling that '60 Minutes' would base their reporting off of an already-discredited conservative author who has made a career of out attacking Democrats." Of course he offered no proof of the author in question being discredited in any way.
There you have it. Congress members can cheat the system by using inside information to benefit from the stock market that the rest of us would go to jail for, then when questioned about their dishonest tactics, having them exposed, simply have their mouthpiece spokespersons lie through their teeth. They also try and discredit those that bring these issues to light rather than just simply and honestly answering direct accusations.
Our system of governing is simply astonishing.
You and I can't do it, but our elected members of both the United States Senate and the United States Congress can. I'm talking about Congressional Insider Trading and as of this date there is no law restricting members of Congress from taking information that only they are privy to and making anywhere from very little to a fortune with it.
Congress Insiders in both the House and Senate are able to take the information they have on companies that will benefit from their legislation and use that info to invest in the stock market. If you and I we to have access to non-public information as do members of Congress, and we were to use it to benefit from and make a boat load of cash, we could go to jail, just like Martha Stewart did.
Martha Stewart goes to jail for a minor infraction and yet many Wall Street biggies who nearly caused the collapse of the economy end up getting bailed out and have their companies saved to the tune of billions of dollars. Members of Congress do the same thing, or worse, than what Martha Stewart did and yet nothing happens to them.
The CBS News program 60 Minutes will be airing a special report today (the same day of this post) exposing the scam of these Congress Insiders that is going on in the Halls of Congress and how no one will come up with a bill to outlaw this practice. But this just begs the question, why do we need a law that restricts members of Congress from doing something that is illegal for you and I.
I can't wait to see the expose this evening Sunday November 13 at 7 pm on CBS 60 Minutes. It should be ground breaking but the question is, after this report will anyone be willing to do anything about it and will we be so enraged by it that we do something about it?
With the present condition of the US economy, most people are going through severe financial difficulties. It needs no mention that today’s public education is short on the subject of financial literacy and therefore, unless the parents teach their kids about financial literacy, they will continue making mistakes. We all know that today’s generation is entirely dependent on plastics and they have the extremely bad habit of whipping their plastics during every purchase. If you’re in your 20s and your finances are already in a state of haywire, you must sit back a plan of action. Though you can go for debt reduction to make debt more manageable, yet instead of hurting your credit score, it is always better to follow some particular financial moves. Read on to know about the opinion of some financial experts that is particularly designed for the “plastic generation”.
Take control of your personal financial future: If your finances are still being handled by your parents, it’s time to take control over it. If you don’t know how to manage your money, other people will soon find ways to mismanage you and screw you financially. Instead of relying on unscrupulous commission based financial planners, get help from your parents. Get to know the importance of budgeting and saving money in order to lead a happy future.
Living within your means: This may seem terribly obvious for many, but there are people who hate to follow this strategy. If you’ve been extremely gratified by using your credit cards, you must also be aware of the fact that cleaning up that mess will may take decades. Start now to live on a budget so that your outflows remain smaller than your inflows. Evaluate your budget at the end of a month so that you may have space for improvement and improvisation wherever needed.
Start investing and let your money grow: According to most recent researches, it has been seen that the young generation is particularly interested in the investment market. They must be aware that risks and rewards are an integral part of the investment market. Therefore, choosing a financial instrument must be done after enough research and knowledge. Get in touch with an investment broker who may help you take the right decisions.
Pay off your credit card balance: Don’t follow the habit of carrying forward your balances to the next month as this will tarp you in high interest debt. Make it a habit to pay off your entire credit card balance in a particular month so that you do not incur late fees and penalties and increase your monthly payments. Do the needful to remember the due dates and pay your bills on time.
It is not that there are no ways to reduce your debt burden but you must always try to stay safe than sorry. Debt reduction is always possible through a debt negotiation company and you may even be allowed to pay an amount that is much less than what you owe. But the effect it may have on your credit score must be taken into consideration. Instead follow the smart financial moves mentioned above.
Author’s Bio: Martha loves to write financial articles and she is a contributory writer associated with the Debt Consolidation Care Community and has written several articles on debt consolidation, debt settlement, bill consolidation and get out of debt for various financial websites. She holds her expertise in the Debt industry and has made significant contribution through her various articles.
