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New Blaze Media doc exposes shady stock-trading from 'filthy rich' Democrats and Republicans in Congress | Blaze Media
The latest installment of Blaze Originals documentaries, "Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich," drops on Wednesday for Blaze Media subscribers, and it covers a topic that is sure to interest — and infuriate — viewers of all political persuasions: insider stock-trading by members...
www.theblaze.com
The latest installment of Blaze Originals documentaries, "Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich," drops on Wednesday for Blaze Media subscribers, and it covers a topic that is sure to interest — and infuriate — viewers of all political persuasions: insider stock-trading by members of Congress.
In this 30-minute episode, host James Poulos travels to Washington, D.C., the belly of the proverbial beast, to learn the extent of the problem. Even Poulos, a seasoned conservative thinker, appeared shocked by what he learned, noting that "some of the most richly rewarded investors in the world" are members of Congress and that running for Congress would give average Americans their best chance at earning "outsized returns" on stock trades.
During his time in D.C., Poulos chatted with some of the good guys in the fight, including Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Chip Roy of Texas, and learned that the issue is both bipartisan and bicameral, meaning it has infiltrated the U.S. House and Senate.
Rep. Gaetz even takes Poulos on a tour of Capitol Hill, walking past or visiting the offices of some of the worst stock-trading offenders, including Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), currently under federal indictment for bribery, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose net worth has skyrocketed in the last 15 years or so from $21 million in 2008 to a current net worth somewhere between $300 and $350 million, the documentary claimed.
Some of the names mentioned, however, are less familiar to the public. They include Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.); Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who reportedly sold his stock of Silicon Valley Bank the day before the bank collapsed in March 2023; and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who sits on several influential committees such as the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
"It's less about the insider trading, although that's a thing. But it's more about the fact that [members of Congress] have an inherent conflict of interest," said Roy, who has repeatedly introduced failed legislation, cosponsored by Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, that would prohibit equities trading for members of Congress and their immediate families.
Viewers of "Bought and Paid For" will likely be outraged that so many federal lawmakers brazenly and wantonly seem to engage in unethical stock-trading, but with almost no outside force to police the private behavior of lawmakers and their families, participants in the documentary are skeptical that things will change anytime soon.
It's the age-old problem of, who will police the police?
No one.
