Is it ethical for a politician to hold stocks in companies when his or her votes and actions will affect the value of the stock? The answer is no, this is a major conflict of interest and would result in censure, or loss of licensure for professionals, or even action by the SEC for any citizen in the private sector. Well, rather than whine about this problem and dance around it with minor tweaks to rules for money and investment that apply to Congress, I would like to make an alternative recommendation.
Upon being elected or appointed every Senator, Representative, Justice of the Court, the President and every major Cabinet Member of his or her administration should be forced to sell their investment grade assets (Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, ETFs, rental properties, precious metals or any other share of ownership in a business of ANY kind) and convert their assets to U.S. Dollars. These dollars should then be put in a physical 'lock box' and kept as a deposit at the Federal Reserve, and their money should be available for the purposes of providing liquidity to that bank. No interest. No electronic bank account. Just real foldin' money printed on paper in a metal box with a lock on it and a guard posted outside.
What would this accomplish? First, it would eliminate the glaring conflict of interest with private businesses and the American public. Second, it would align their interests with our currency and the plight of many every day Americans. I imagine that their attitude toward rampant deficit spending and quantitative easing would rapidly change if it meant that their holdings were about to quickly diminsh in value due to impending inflation. This would also dissuade politicians from inflating our currency to service the national debt.
Unfortunately, I don't think this measure would actually diminsh corruption in Washington, but at least then the American public might have some parity with other competing interest groups. They can put money in politician's pocket. Under this plan, we could take it away by virtue of irresponsible governance, no oversight committee or regulatory agency required.
Upon being elected or appointed every Senator, Representative, Justice of the Court, the President and every major Cabinet Member of his or her administration should be forced to sell their investment grade assets (Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, ETFs, rental properties, precious metals or any other share of ownership in a business of ANY kind) and convert their assets to U.S. Dollars. These dollars should then be put in a physical 'lock box' and kept as a deposit at the Federal Reserve, and their money should be available for the purposes of providing liquidity to that bank. No interest. No electronic bank account. Just real foldin' money printed on paper in a metal box with a lock on it and a guard posted outside.
What would this accomplish? First, it would eliminate the glaring conflict of interest with private businesses and the American public. Second, it would align their interests with our currency and the plight of many every day Americans. I imagine that their attitude toward rampant deficit spending and quantitative easing would rapidly change if it meant that their holdings were about to quickly diminsh in value due to impending inflation. This would also dissuade politicians from inflating our currency to service the national debt.
Unfortunately, I don't think this measure would actually diminsh corruption in Washington, but at least then the American public might have some parity with other competing interest groups. They can put money in politician's pocket. Under this plan, we could take it away by virtue of irresponsible governance, no oversight committee or regulatory agency required.
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