We Need to Talk About Lawmakers, and Their Insider Trading.

What politicians are able to get away with is absurd.

© Reuters

When we discuss corruption of our lawmakers here in the United States, oftentimes — and justifiably so — we point to what has essentially boiled down to legalized bribery, and the ability of lobbyists, the wealthy elite, and special interests to purchase and fund the campaigns of our politicians in order to ensure they do their bidding. The rot that pervades throughout the entirety of our supposedly democratic process fuels absolutely everything. When one feels compelled to think about what might be motivating the decisions of certain politicians like Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz or Joe Biden, it’s been proven time and time again that all we have to do is follow the money.

The thing is, everyone can see this. Most people, even those who don’t follow politics, wherever they might fall on the ideological spectrum, can agree that it’s an issue. But, it’s certainly worth noting that we should be having a discussion about yet another layer to the corruption, and the way our lawmakers systematically abuse their position without the vast majority of people even being aware of it or batting an eye.

We need to talk about lawmakers, the brazen, undeniable insider trading, and their ability to own stock at all.

Unfortunately for Nancy Pelosi, she and her husband Paul happen to be making some headlines as one of the most recent and frankly disgusting examples of this behavior.

According to The Hill:

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband gained nearly $5 million on a trade of stocks in Google parent company Alphabet Inc. and also added bets to Amazon and Apple ahead of the House Judiciary Committee’s vote last month to advance five antitrust bills targeting major tech giants. According to a recently released financial disclosure report signed by the Democratic leader on July 2, Paul Pelosi, who owns a real estate and venture capital investment firm, exercised 40 call options to gain 4,000 shares of Alphabet at a strike price of $1,200. Paul Pelosi gained $4.8 million from the trade, which has since risen to $5.3 million, Bloomberg reported. The transaction, dated June 18, followed previous…