According to the speaker’s disclosure report published recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul invested $5 million in 20,000 shares of NVIDIA.
NVIDIA is one
of the world’s
largest semiconductor companies that designs and manufactures graphics
processors and other technology and is heavily reliant on semiconductors.
Paul was recently in
the news for
being charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence in connection to a car crash in Northern California.
Like every other
citizen, Paul Pelosi is allowed to invest his money where he desires. It should
be none of anybody’s concern.
However, in this
particular case, there is an obvious problem.
The
Daily Caller reported that Paul Pelosi’s stock purchase occurred prior
to a vote on a bill next week that would grant massive subsidies to chip
manufacturing.
The Senate is
scheduled to convene next Tuesday to vote on a
bipartisan competition bill, that includes $52 billion in grants and
subsidies for semiconductor manufacturers and $45 billion to strengthen their
supply chain for high-tech products. The bill would also provide chip
manufacturers with tax credits for production.
In June, chip
manufacturing companies, including NVIDIA, had dispatched a letter to
Washington requesting lawmakers
to expedite the passage of the bill.
The obvious issue is
that only a select few such as Speaker Pelosi were aware of the contents of the
bill and the fact that the bill was for the Senate next week. Her husband
purchasing seven figures worth of stock in a company that stands to gain from
the bill seems too much of a coincidence. It most certainly presents a case of
conflict of interest for Pelosi who stand to profit through her husband.
Paul Pelosi is known
to be an avid investor
in the stock markets. Both Nancy and Paul Pelosi are supposed to be worth at
least $46,123,051. This places the House Speaker among the 25
richest members of Congress. The vast majority of the couple's wealth is from
stocks, options, and investments made by Paul.
Last year, Paul Pelosi was in the news
for earning over $5 million after trading stocks in Google
parent company Alphabet Inc, Amazon, and Apple ahead of the House Judiciary
Committee’s vote to advance five antitrust bills targeting major tech
giants.
But Paul is not the
only offender.
Back in April
2021, a
study by the Campaign Legal Center revealed that lawmakers from
both parties traded stocks hundreds of times throughout the coronavirus
pandemic.
Lawmakers invested in sectors whose relevance was elevated owing
to the COVID-19
pandemic. They also sold investments from sectors adversely affected
by the lockdowns following the pandemic.
Another investigation by
business Insider's "Conflicted Congress’ project, revealed that "49
members of Congress and 182 senior congressional staffers violated laws aimed
at preventing insider trading."
Nancy Pelosi, who
stands to gain via her husband obviously supported the idea of lawmakers
trading in stocks. She said, "We are a free
market economy. They should be able to participate in that”.
The leader of the
Squad, AOC, rightly condemned the practice.
https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1468398015161552899
Senator Elizabeth
Warren suggested passing a law that would ban members of Congress from
trading or owning stocks to "clean up the filth on the floor."
Pelosi ultimately
acquiesced following intense backlash from her colleagues, some
sections of the media, and the general public.
Pelosi allowed bipartisan groups of lawmakers to draft bills and
hold a public hearing.
The rules for regular
citizens are very different.
The former top
corporate attorney at Apple Inc pleaded
guilty to insider trading charges, for what prosecutors called a
five-year scheme to trade ahead of the iPhone maker's quarterly earnings
announcements.
A former corporate
communications chief for a New Jersey biotechnology company pleaded
guilty to illegal trading based on tips from the company's chief
financial officer, who was her boyfriend at the time.
Both could face up to
20 years in prison if found guilty.
Recently, a former
Netflix employee was sentenced to
14 months in prison and $10,000 in fines for insider trading.
Free-market
principles to stock trading only work when everyone has identical access to
information.
The lawmaker has
access to information that the citizen doesn’t which obviously gives them an
unfair advantage. It, therefore, makes sense for all public servants to make
not to misuse their office to reap profits in the stock market.
For those lawmakers
who complain that it is unfair to prevent them from stock market trading when
citizens are permitted. This could be a case for term limits. An elected
official can serve their tenure of 12 years - 2 terms for Senators and 6 terms
for House members. Following their public service, they are free to engage in the trading of stock after that.
If profit is the sole
motivation, they must work in the private sector where they can invest in stock
and reap profits.
These rules must also
apply to all government officials in Washington.
Last September,
during her visit to the U.K, Nancy Pelosi said that
in America, capitalism “has not served the economy as well as it should”
because “the success of some springs from the exploitation of the workers and
springs from the exploitation of the environment and the rest.”
Pelosi was
unknowingly describing her circumstance where her husband could be exploiting
his access to information to reap profits. But the self-righteous seldom notice
the irony.
Will the GOP, when they have control of the House and the Senate,
pass laws that would ban members of all members of government including lawmakers from
trading or owning stocks?
We know there are many GOP congressional members who also do this as it is legal, and some may not be taking insider trading benefits. But the ones who do often are loudly against these regulations.
We live in hope.
Also appears on American Thinker
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