Ryan - Insider trading was legal when he did it.

[JWBooth]

The practice was perfectly legal when he engaged in it. Something that has since changed. Quite a guy.

Paul Ryan sold shares on same day as private briefing of banking crisis | World news | guardian.co.uk
The Richmonder: Paul Ryan traded on insider information to avoid 2008 crash

Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate, sold stock in US banks on the same day he attended a confidential meeting where top level officials disclosed the sector was heading for a deep crisis.
The congressman on Monday denied profiting from information gleaned from the meeting on 18 September 2008 when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, then treasury secretary Hank Paulson and others outlined their fears for the banking sector. His office said he had no control over the trades.
Public records show that on the same day as the meeting, Ryan sold stock in troubled banks including Wachovia and Citigroup and bought shares in Goldman Sachs, Paulson's old employer and a bank that had been disclosed to be stronger than many of its rivals. The sale was not illegal at the time.

 

[Moonglow]

Why their is nothing ethically or morally wrong as long as the government legalizes it, or doesn't legalize it.

 

[JWBooth]

Why their is nothing ethically or morally wrong as long as the government legalizes it, or doesn't legalize it.

So long as government is the moral/ethical arbiter?

 

[JWBooth]

Nevermind, It seems that, as shown in other locations the trades did take place prior to Ryan's meet with Bernanke. Timing is marvelously coincidental, but what the hell, stranger things have happened.

 

[blastoff]

Oh, so another no basis for turning a molehill into a mountain again. Got it.

 

[PoliticalChic]

The practice was perfectly legal when he engaged in it. Something that has since changed. Quite a guy.

Paul Ryan sold shares on same day as private briefing of banking crisis | World news | guardian.co.uk
The Richmonder: Paul Ryan traded on insider information to avoid 2008 crash

Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate, sold stock in US banks on the same day he attended a confidential meeting where top level officials disclosed the sector was heading for a deep crisis.
The congressman on Monday denied profiting from information gleaned from the meeting on 18 September 2008 when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, then treasury secretary Hank Paulson and others outlined their fears for the banking sector. His office said he had no control over the trades.
Public records show that on the same day as the meeting, Ryan sold stock in troubled banks including Wachovia and Citigroup and bought shares in Goldman Sachs, Paulson's old employer and a bank that had been disclosed to be stronger than many of its rivals. The sale was not illegal at the time.

1. I'm missing the specific connection to Paul Ryan. You might be interested in the book called "Throw Them All Out" by Peter Schweizer, which includes the following:

2. Nancy Pelosi, the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives with an estimated net worth of $58 million, bought 5,000 shares of V (Visa) at the privileged IPO price $44. This trade showed a profit immediately and the shares went up to about $88 in a matter of days. However, Pelosi worked on major legislation that if it had not been killed in the body she led, would have had a strong negative affect on the price right at that time. The rest of us can't do it because we're subject to strict conflict of interest rules, unlike lawmakers. Plus, we're not invited to participate in IPOs until after the price is run up.


3. Congressmen are big winners in the stock market. They cultivate companies in their loyalty structure from whom they get insider information often at the committee level. There are many ways they get rich while serving constituents, especially if you know what big deal Warren Buffett will do and when. Many names are given in this book of successful inside information operators within Congress.


4. The Pay-to-Play regime and the flow of insider information can be used by even the most novice traders using an online brokerage account. One big story is how Congressman Spensor Bachus used a private meeting with Fed Chair Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson. Bachus was in the role of Ranking Member on the House Financial Services Committee. He used the dire information presented to him in this meeting to bet heavily that the market would go down, using option trades. Bachus, working with Bernanke and Paulson from July 2008 to November 2008, scalped $50K out of the falling market. The book has lots of war stories like that.

5. …the political class is so intelligent that they--get this!--compel CEOs to let them buy lucrative shares in IPOs at very low prices in exchange for passing favorable legislation for those CEOs! And all the while, the stupid idiot people of America--that would be you and me who have a 9 to 5 job, worship God and like to go to a ballgame every now and then--just carry on with their ignorance-is-bliss lives while the political class keeps enriching their wealth, power and influence in this way!! Genius...simply genius!

 

[onecut39]

Oh, so another no basis for turning a molehill into a mountain again. Got it.

Got that right. No need to question ethics. Legal is legal and that's it.

Legal, ethical and moral. All are synonyms according to the GOP.

I got it!

 

[Papageorgio]

Oh, so another no basis for turning a molehill into a mountain again. Got it.

Got that right. No need to question ethics. Legal is legal and that's it.

Legal, ethical and moral. All are synonyms according to the GOP.

I got it!

Funny how Pelosi promised that Congress would be more ethical, yet she doesn't practice it.