> If they are truly people-oriented as they oath when they join public service, why allow them to own stock at all? I take this to mean you think that civil se

> If they are truly people-oriented as they oath when they join public service, why allow them to own stock at all? I take this to mean you think that civil servants and members of the military should also be barred from holding stocks? > But isn't that a significant conflict of interest if they are public service employees? There is no inherent conflict of interest in owning stocks. The risk is when they own (especially if they are heavily invested in) individual stocks. Use a blind trust like I mentioned or disallow holding individual stocks if they want to manage their own portfolio, then they still have a vested interest in the economy (how well businesses are doing as proxied by the stock market) but their conflicts are limited or removed.