"No, It Is NOT "Legal" For Congress To Insider-Trade"

"Insider trading is just as illegal for members of Congress
as it is for the 300+ million Americans, Indiana Law Professor Donna Nagy argues.

Congress never "exempted" itself from insider trading laws, Nagy says
--because Congress has never actually passed a law about insider trading.

By trading on information gathered in the course of their jobs, Nagy says,
Congress-people are abusing the public trust and violating a legal duty,
just the way any other insider-traders do.

...The definition of insider trading
is trading while in possession of material non-public information.

On September 16th, 2008, a new book by Peter Schweizer alleges,
Rep. Spencer Bachus and other members of Congress attended a private,
off-the-record (read: non-public) briefing from Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson
and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke about the state of the economy.

The next day, some Congress-people who attended the briefing,
including Rep. Bachus and Dick Durbin,
sold stocks or bet against the market.

A few days later, after the market had tanked,
Rep. Bachus cashed out his bet for a tidy profit.

..."Material non-public information"
is any information that a reasonable person might want to consider
when making an investment decision.

...Bachus and Durbin (and others)
got the information they traded in possession of
because they were doing a job on behalf of their constituents.

The information was confidential,
and, in in all likelihood, material.

And they appear to have immediately used it
for their own personal gain."

Henry