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Insider Trading Bill
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Insider Trading Bill
The insider trading bill for lawmakers is something everyone should be calling
your state representatives about - its common sense that insider trading should
be banned for everyone, regardless of your job, title or government position.
Just because you are a lawmaker or a staffer, you should be held accountable for
laws upheld for Main Street Americans. Send a letter, email or make a call to
your state leaders to pressure the passing of this law!
A proposal introduced by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, seeks to
have lawmakers lose their federal pensions if they become lobbyists - something
not uncommon - after they step down from Congress. For example, former Senator
Christopher Dodd became the chief lobbyist for the Motion Pictures Association
of America in March after stepping down from his position on Capitol Hill. “I am
somewhat sickened and saddened by people who use their office, leave office and
become lobbyists,” Paul said on the Senate floor. Senator Pat Toomey, Republican
of Pennsylvania and Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri proposed an
amendment to permanently ban earmarks, provisions in legislation that directs
taxpayer funds to be spent on specific projects typically in a lawmaker’s home
state - earmarks are currently temporarily banned. Senator Sherrod Brown,
Democrat of Ohio introduced a controversial measure which would would force
lawmakers and their staff to divest themselves of any individual stock holdings
or put them in a blind trust outside of their control. “Members of Congress not
only have the privilege of serving, but they are compensated well for it.
There’s no reason they need to be in the business of buying or selling stocks
that could be influenced by their actions,” Brown said. In December, House
Republican leaders delayed legislative efforts to bring to a vote similar
legislation seeking to hike limits on insider trading by lawmakers. Spokeswomen
for Republican majority leader Eric Cantor said Republicans plan to move on an
expanded version of the Senate legislation this month. Democrats have been
urging Cantor and Republican leaders to move more quickly on trading legislation
- something Main Street American wants moved on ASAP! An insider trading bill
also known as the STOCK Act introduced by Representative Louise Slaughter, a
Democrat from New York, has 271 co-sponsors including 92 Republicans.
Slaughter’s bill was first introduced in 2006. Slaughter along with other House
Democrats launched a so-called discharge petition in an effort to press
Republicans to schedule a vote on the STOCK Act in the House. To force a a vote
on the House floor 218 signatures are needed, more than half of the 435 members
of the House. Seems pretty foolish for Republicans to unduly delay a bill that
Main Street Americans are calling for as well. Five House committees, including
the House Financial Services Committee, have jurisdiction to review
insider-trading legislation and not one has scheduled votes on the bill so far.
The House Financial Services Committee previously scheduled a vote on the bill
on December 14, but postponed it. It is possible that an insider-trading bill
could bypass the House committees and come up for a vote by the full House.
As he testified in front of the House Budget Committee, Federal Reserve Board
Chairman Ben Bernanke once again urged Congress to put U.S. fiscal policy on a
sustainable path, warning Thursday that the nation risks the possibility of a
sudden fiscal crisis unless action is taken. "Although historical experience and
economic theory do no indicate the exact threshold at which the perceived risks
associated with the U.S. public debt would increase markedly, we can be sure
that, without corrective action, our fiscal trajectory will move the nation ever
closer to that point," Bernanke said. The Fed chairman said that Congress should
'take care' not to impede the current economic recovery. Bernanke said that
labor market has shown signs of improvement and although the economy is
gradually recovering, it is still vulnerable to shocks. “Fortunately, over the
past few months, indicators of spending, production, and job market activity
have shown some signs of improvement,” Bernanke said. The outlook remains
'uncertain' and close observation of the economy is needed, he said.
The Labor Department reported that productivity of U.S. businesses rose at a
slower rate in Q4, as labor costs rose. According to a preliminary reading by
the Labor Department, productivity in the final three months of 2011 increased
0.7%, compared with a 1.9% gain in the prior quarter, with Q3 productivity
revised down from a previously reported 2.3% growth rate. U.S. productivity rose
at a 0.7% annual rate for all of 2011 which was much smaller than the 4.1%
increase in 2010 and a 2.3% gain in 2009. Higher U.S. productivity is regarded
as the key to a rising standard of living over time because it tends to lead to
higher pay for workers and larger profits for companies. For example, companies
might reduce staff but keep production at the same level or install more
labor-saving devices to avoid the need to hire - which explains why hiring in
the U.S. has been mediocre since the last recession ended. A drop in
productivity stemming from higher output and more hours worked, such that
occurred in Q4, is often a signal that companies need to add more to their
staff. Real output, the amount of goods and services produced, grew at an annual
rate of 3.6% in the Q4. Hours worked rose 2.9% and hourly wages climbed 1.9%
after a small decrease in the prior quarter resulting in increase in unit-labor
costs by 1.2%. Unit-labor costs reflect how much it costs a business to produce
one unit of output, such as a ton of steel or a crate of toys. During 2011,
unit-labor costs rose a minute 1.3% overall. Despite the increase in hourly
wages and hours worked, employees didn’t benefit as much as expected. Hourly
wages in Q4 rose just 1.0%, adjusted for inflation, and actually declined for
the full year. The standard of living was reduced for millions of Americans in
2011 due to higher cost of basic necessities, mainly food and fuel. Inflation
has seen to be leveling off in recent months.
The Labor Department reported fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits
last week, indicating the U.S. labor market continues to gradually improve. For
week ended January 28, U.S. jobless claims dropped by 12,000 to a seasonally
adjusted 367,000 - near a four-year low with the four-week average of claims
fell by a smaller 2,000, to 375,750. Although the monthly average has shown
little change over the past six weeks, it remains near a four-year low and
stands at level that usually suggests a healing labor market. The recent decline
likely indicates a slowdown in layoffs since claims reflect how many people lose
their jobs. Even if companies are laying off fewer workers, it still does not
they are eager to hire. The current pace of job creation of nearly 150,000 jobs
a month remains too slow to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work.
On the eve of U.S. data on nonfarm payrolls and joblessness for January, the
past week’s jobless claims data are likely to draw more than the usual scrutiny.
The Labor Department also reported continuing jobless claims - with a one-week
lag - decreased by 130,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.44 million in the week
ended January 21. In the seven years prior to the 2007-2009 recession, U.S.
jobless rate ranged between 3.8% and 6.2%. For week ended January 14, nearly
7.67 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit, virtually
unchanged from the prior week.
Democratic leadership are hoping for votes on amendments Thursday to legislation
seeking to curtail insider trading of securities by lawmakers, though many of
the measures under consideration are controversial and could bog down final
passage of the bill. The new legislation would prohibit lawmakers, their
families and staff from buying and selling securities based on their knowledge
of non-public information. Additionally, the bill will require lawmakers and
their staff to report stocks and commodities transactions within 30 days of
buying and selling the securities and, will require information about their
trading to be published in a searchable, online database. Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid said Thursday morning that he and others were busy working on the
insider trading legislation until late Wednesday and he has hopes to have votes
on amendments to the bill Thursday. “We’ve worked very hard until late in the
evening last night to try to come up with an agreement to complete action on
this bill,” Reid said. “I will notify senators when those votes are scheduled.
We hope that can be done.” The bill appeared to be on the fast-track after
passing a key procedural hurdle late Monday with a vote of 93 to 2, easily
surpassing the 60 votes it needed to move forward. A number of controversial
amendments were introduced over the past few days, many of which could
complicate final passage of the bill - nothing that surprises Main Street
America. Lawmakers were negotiating in private over which amendments will be
permitted to come up for a vote.
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February
2, 2012
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Top of the page | |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$207,545.00 |
$15,148.00 |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$54,280.00 |
$7,557.50 |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$477,923.89 |
$44,196.66 |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$395,980.00 |
$47,570.00 |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
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