Forum Post: STOCK Act passes Senate!! Congress prohibited from insider trading
Posted 12 years ago on Feb. 3, 2012, 9:22 a.m. EST by ineptcongress
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The STOCK Act passed the Senate, will move to the House and then to the President, who has supported the Bill. This Act closes a loophole in the law, which enabled members of government to trade on information learned in the course of their duties, such as the plans to let Lehman fail (which was capitalized on by a number of people sitting in closed meetings at the FED). The Act also prohibits staff members and Executive branch employees from insider trading. However, the Act does NOT require money be placed in a blind trust, so a legislator can still buy investments, then propose a bill that would help their causes.
more info: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/stock-act-insider-trading-bill-senate_n_1234067.html
Transparency and accountability does not exist in a so called blind trust. About one hour and eight minutes into the Senate hearing on insider trading http://goo.gl/0aaBd. I think it might have been Robert Walker who told congress why blind trusts are not a workable solution to insider trading. These kinds of trusts cost a lot of money. “They are only blind is so far as .. they are not blind what you put into them initially, they are only blind if you put in cash, or after a period of time the assets are sold down to a particular level, then you are notified that you do not have those any more.”
The first blind trust used in modern times was that of President Lyndon B. Johnson. He knew what was in the trust and it was managed as he wanted. It would have been public information had the assets been sold. Anyone with half a brain can get around a blind trust. The way to catch these people is to have real time disclosures.
See: The problem with blind trusts. http://goo.gl/iuCkO
anyone with half a brain can solve the issue at hand--which is exactly why congress could not figure it out:) all positions are converted to cash prior to deposit with the trustee and they donor gets a tax break on the gains and losses. the trustee may repurchase some positions, not others,,, depends. once in the trust they cannot communicate with the manager of their money in any way, and they get account statements with only balances.
It also requires that trades be reported to the SEC within 30 days for public dissemination.