Goose, after the Financial Manufactured Crisis of 2008-2009, there was legislation passed, with great fanfare, designed to halt that kind of insider trading by government officials and employees.
Months later, the most important parts were repealed or watered down to the point of being useless.
For anyone that wasn't there for that
Months later, the most important parts were repealed or watered down to the point of being useless.
Quote:The STOCK Act was modified on April 15, 2013, by S.716. This amendment modifies the online disclosure portion of the STOCK Act, so that some officials, but not the President, Vice President, Congress, or anyone running for Congress, can no longer file online and their records are no longer easily accessible to the public. In Section (a)2, the amendment specifically does not alter the online access for trades by the President, the Vice President, Congress, or those running for Congress.[11] The reasoning for this change was to prevent criminals from gaining access to the financial data and using it against affected persons. This bill was introduced by Senator Harry Reid on April 11, 2013. It was considered by the Senate and passed by unanimous consent. In the House, S.716 received only 14 seconds of discussion before being passed by unanimous consent.[12]
The main provision that was repealed would have required about 28,000 senior government officials to post their financial information online, something that had been strongly criticized by federal government employee unions. A report by the National Academy of Public Administration, published in March 2013, said that the provision could threaten the safety of government employees abroad, as well as make it difficult to attract and retain public sector employees.[13]
The amendment also eliminated the requirement for the creation of searchable, sortable database of information in reports, and the requirement that reports be done in electronic format, rather than on paper.[14]
For anyone that wasn't there for that
2
