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No, I was commenting on the current administration's corruption. I don't think most previous Republican administrations would have tolerated the type of inside

by slg 6mo ago

No, I was commenting on the current administration's corruption. I don't think most previous Republican administrations would have tolerated the type of insider trading we have seen from people close to the administration. It goes beyond ideology, turning a blind eye to this behavior among your subordinates is a sign of weak leadership and poor management.

mcmcmc 6mo ago
If they’ve been fine with Congress trading stocks on insider knowledge forever why would this be any different?
- lotsofpulp 6mo ago
  Because the law protects members of Congress, not >people close to the administration.
  - mcmcmc 6mo ago
    I think it’s naive to pretend they haven’t been doing the same thing all along. The Trump admin simply has more options available to them with crypto and prediction markets. And their egos are too big to bother doing it quietly.
- slg 6mo ago
  This is actually a good example of this not being a partisan issue. A congressional stock trading ban is one of the few issues that doesn't break down by party lines. Both Republicans and Democrats have put forward bills to ban it and the percentage of the population in support of such efforts is very similar between Republicans and Democrats. I'm also not going to defend Congressional stock trading. I think it should be banned. But there are some differences about who is doing the trading/betting, what specifically they are trading/betting on, and what that information communicates to the public. There's a fundamental difference between a random staffer betting the US will attack Iran on a certain date which becomes public immediately compared to a Congressperson themselves buying stock in a weapon manufacturer in the leadup to an attack knowing the purchase won't be disclosed to the public for up to 45 days. Like I said, I would be against both, but it's much easier to justify Congressional stock trading than the insider trading we see on these prediction markets. Afterall, it isn't like Congress is moving to remove all insider trading legislation, so there is some recognition of nuance here even if they give themselves more leeway than we would want.
chiefalchemist 6mo ago
What proof do you have that there is a difference between the Team Red and Team Blue, other than your not on the team you’re railing against. For example, given Nancy Pelosi’s effectiveness as an investor, she was effectively a highly successful day trader with a side hustle as a representative of her constituents. Framing this as a Left v Right, is at best, naive.
- slg 6mo ago
  >What proof do you have that there is a difference between the Team Red and Team Blue...Framing this as a Left v Right, is at best, naive. You're responding to a comment that explicitly said I wasn't doing that. This is not Left vs Right, it's Trump vs everyone else.
  - chiefalchemist 6mo ago
    Your bias is blinding you. The System is corrupted. Full stop. How do we know? Look who is in the WH. How can a fair and just system lead to that? You’re failing for the “OMG! Look at him!!” narrative. A narrative brought to you by the people whose incompetence and negligence led to Trump. A narrative that distracts from their failures. You should be asking: How did we get here? Who is accountable? But you’re not.
- akio 6mo ago
  Trump's second-term clemencies so far have forgiven criminal debts of more than $1.5 billion. That's over 2,000x the amount amount eliminated by Biden's pardons ($680,000). These pardons go to convicted criminals who have ties to Trump and his administration, or who have donated significant sums to Trump. It is very obvious the current administrating is the most corrupt administration in modern history by several orders of magnitude. https://www.cato.org/blog/embarrassment-riches https://www.cato.org/blog/embarrassment-riches
  - chiefalchemist 6mo ago
    And what of Pelosi and the like? The problem is, you’re not able to measure what you cannot see. For example, the obvious… Epstein Files. That went on for how long? Involved hundreds if not thousands of (mostly) men of power. Bill Clinton comes to mind. Just because you couldn’t see the corruption doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

by slg 6mo ago

mcmcmc 6mo ago

If they’ve been fine with Congress trading stocks on insider knowledge forever why would this be any different?

lotsofpulp 6mo ago
Because the law protects members of Congress, not >people close to the administration.
- mcmcmc 6mo ago
  I think it’s naive to pretend they haven’t been doing the same thing all along. The Trump admin simply has more options available to them with crypto and prediction markets. And their egos are too big to bother doing it quietly.
slg 6mo ago
This is actually a good example of this not being a partisan issue. A congressional stock trading ban is one of the few issues that doesn't break down by party lines. Both Republicans and Democrats have put forward bills to ban it and the percentage of the population in support of such efforts is very similar between Republicans and Democrats. I'm also not going to defend Congressional stock trading. I think it should be banned. But there are some differences about who is doing the trading/betting, what specifically they are trading/betting on, and what that information communicates to the public. There's a fundamental difference between a random staffer betting the US will attack Iran on a certain date which becomes public immediately compared to a Congressperson themselves buying stock in a weapon manufacturer in the leadup to an attack knowing the purchase won't be disclosed to the public for up to 45 days. Like I said, I would be against both, but it's much easier to justify Congressional stock trading than the insider trading we see on these prediction markets. Afterall, it isn't like Congress is moving to remove all insider trading legislation, so there is some recognition of nuance here even if they give themselves more leeway than we would want.

chiefalchemist 6mo ago

What proof do you have that there is a difference between the Team Red and Team Blue, other than your not on the team you’re railing against. For example, given Nancy Pelosi’s effectiveness as an investor, she was effectively a highly successful day trader with a side hustle as a representative of her constituents. Framing this as a Left v Right, is at best, naive.

slg 6mo ago
>What proof do you have that there is a difference between the Team Red and Team Blue...Framing this as a Left v Right, is at best, naive. You're responding to a comment that explicitly said I wasn't doing that. This is not Left vs Right, it's Trump vs everyone else.
- chiefalchemist 6mo ago
  Your bias is blinding you. The System is corrupted. Full stop. How do we know? Look who is in the WH. How can a fair and just system lead to that? You’re failing for the “OMG! Look at him!!” narrative. A narrative brought to you by the people whose incompetence and negligence led to Trump. A narrative that distracts from their failures. You should be asking: How did we get here? Who is accountable? But you’re not.
akio 6mo ago
Trump's second-term clemencies so far have forgiven criminal debts of more than $1.5 billion. That's over 2,000x the amount amount eliminated by Biden's pardons ($680,000). These pardons go to convicted criminals who have ties to Trump and his administration, or who have donated significant sums to Trump. It is very obvious the current administrating is the most corrupt administration in modern history by several orders of magnitude. https://www.cato.org/blog/embarrassment-riches https://www.cato.org/blog/embarrassment-riches
- chiefalchemist 6mo ago
  And what of Pelosi and the like? The problem is, you’re not able to measure what you cannot see. For example, the obvious… Epstein Files. That went on for how long? Involved hundreds if not thousands of (mostly) men of power. Bill Clinton comes to mind. Just because you couldn’t see the corruption doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.