4 ms·

*purposeful loopholes

• throwaway894345 5y ago
  I don’t think it’s “purposeful” as much as the fact that the fundamental fungibility of money makes it very hard to write legislation that covers a reasonable amount of loopholes. Or rather, while purposeful loopholes could exist, it’s very hard to prevent legislators trading stocks even if there were no deliberate loopholes.
  • pwillia7 5y ago
    Almost every other facet of the law rests somewhat on 'common sense' and what 'reasonable people would do' I don't see why the laws couldn't be like that, but I take your point.
    • throwaway894345 5y ago
      Without getting into abstract legal philosophy, I think we can agree that this is effectively about insider trading (literally we're talking about trading on inside information) and insider trading is notoriously difficult to prosecute. Personally I think it's worth creating a law like our insider trading laws, with big punitive sentences to dissuade congresspeople from taking the risk. But I don't expect it to significantly outperform extant insider trading legislation.