It's good to be a member of the U.S. Congress

[Peter11216]

A portfolio that mimics the purchases of House Members beats the market by 55 basis points per month (approximately 6% annually).

Here's the Financial Times blog post about it: Insider trading in the House…

Is it actually possible to create a "congressional portfolio"? Are any hedge funds using this strategy?

Best,

Pete

[mazolaman]

The author expresses surprise that the politicians get away with it...that we aren't more angry.

The reason is that we are no longer shocked that our politicians are bent.

Assuming things are the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Crooked self serving politician shocker"

Your President had better make sure he still has his watch,after shaking hands with Cameron.

[Peter11216]

According to this Gallup poll (see part way down the page), the only professions that are rated worse than member of Congress are Car Salesman and Lobbyist, in terms of ethical standards.

It is amazing, though, that even though the entire country thinks the honesty and ethical standards of congress are average or worse, very few people are trying to do something about it.

The reason is that we are no longer shocked that our politicians are bent.

Assuming things are the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

[cigcars]

...and I thought we were gonna address the way our U.S. Congressional reps in one year went on a trip to Cuba (I think 1999 or so?) and made a quick change to the embargo law so that they could come back with in excess of the $100 limit in Cuban cigars! When they returned back to the states...they changed the law back!

[BobKincaid]

Because of the unwritten rule against discussion of U.S. politics here, I will refrain from posting a nineteen paragraph dissertation on why this is wholly unsurprising.

[mykeuva]

Because of the unwritten rule against discussion of U.S. politics here, I will refrain from posting a nineteen paragraph dissertation on why this is wholly unsurprising.

I'll avoid discussing US politics by generalizing my thought.

This is absolutely no surprise, as politicians that people elect, in any country, are no angels. They are simply people (and often times, some truly rotten people.) The more people give power to their respective governments, the greater the chance those in charge of taking and handing out wealth will appropriate some of it for themselves.