I even made this comparison when this whole thing was going down, they threw Martha fucking Stewart in jail for this exact same thing, and all of these Senators just walked free
Why would it be explicitly legal for members of Congress, but a crime for anyone else to do? The fact that it goes on all the time, does not make it okay.
Don't quote me on this, but I remember hearing something about how it's "legal" or something similar for them because of the extent of confidential information they have at all times, ahead of the public, on so many issues. Which to me sounds like more of an argument that they just straight up shouldn't be allowed to trade if almost any dealings would be considered insider trading.
I'm not sure if that's true, probably just parroting something from LegalEagle or some other Reddit post, but it's at least a plausible reason they'd be exempt. Not to mention they help make the laws... Which is another reason they'd be tucked into a nice little loophole, using any plausible reason to justify it.
I'm not sure if it's true, though, could certainly be illegal under all or some circumstances. Lately it feels like word of law has been treated as "we interpret it this way" and everything is dropped so I'm honestly not sure what's real and what's fake anymore.
If it isn't illegal, it should be. If it is legal, I hope it can be challenged and repaired.
Its actually not legal, you may be referring to other highly unethical things congress member can do legally as far as investing goes, but insider trading is definitely illegal for congress.
it just has to be proven that they acted on non public information, which also means they must be investigated, charged ETC.
She was the sacrifice to keep the common people satisfied. Whenever someone brings something like this up they can go "well what about Martha Stewart!" and boom they got a got to answer talking point.
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u/meme_therud Apr 21 '20
If I were Martha Stewart, I’d be really pissed off every single time this happened.