invest privately. Nor should their spices.

This includes

Federal Judges
Congressmen and senators
Executive branch officials
State lawmakers
City council/managers.

They should be able to invest in public options like bonds but not private companies.

The obvious reason for this ban is conflict of interests. I want officials making decisions best for the people not best for their portfolios. Corruption will lose its incentive if all officials portfolios rely on the entire community doing well and not certain companies.

6/23/2010 7:25:54 PM

I feel like there was some document designed to prevent conflicts of interest from being an issue...

Nah, you're right. Let's go with your idea.

6/23/2010 7:35:42 PM

A judge that owns parts of several oil companies and the oil drilling company transocean, shot down the ban on more potentially dangerous deep-ocean drilling.

Thats just embarrassing and blatantly obvious.

6/23/2010 7:40:19 PM

troll troll troll your boat...

6/23/2010 7:43:37 PM

as a government official, fuck you and the troll thread you rode in on

6/23/2010 7:46:01 PM

i own about 40 shares of Progress Energy...i get about $130 a year in dividend checks from them

i guess i "own parts of several companies that condone the burning of fossil fuels"

Here's a serious question for you mamba:

Should President Obama be able to buy 10 shares of McDonald's? Coca Cola? How about Apple?

[Edited on June 23, 2010 at 7:59 PM. Reason : .]

6/23/2010 7:54:50 PM

Two words to end this thread: blind trust.

6/23/2010 8:02:28 PM

No he should not be able to buy any company except U.S.A..

Theres too much corruption. That judge just saved himself tens of thousands of dollars instantly with one ruling.

6/23/2010 8:04:07 PM

i agree there is too much corruption

i also think if you drive an automobile with a combustion engine, you're a huge hypocrite for even making this thread

6/23/2010 8:07:32 PM

How so?

6/23/2010 8:18:03 PM

fucking spices

goddamn nutmeg ruining shit for everybody

6/23/2010 8:20:06 PM

^^If you drive a combustion-engine automobile, you are tacitly endorsing nearly everything about oil companies

How is someone going to take your arguments seriously when you're criticizing big oil, when you are one of their consumers?

6/23/2010 8:24:00 PM

It's obvious that there was a conflict of interest in that judges decision. But the rule in the OP is too broad and vague.

6/23/2010 8:32:41 PM

Feldman made a good decision. I mean, let's go over this one more time.

1) Salazar brought in a bunch of experts to determine what needed to be done in regards to offshore drilling
2) Interior says, "hey, we need to have new regulations regarding offshore drilling. Let's have a moratorium on any new offshore drilling rigs for the next 6 months."
3) The experts agree, and sign on to it.
4) Interior goes back, and changes "new offshore drilling rigs" to "existing drilling rigs"
5) Interior keeps experts signature on the document

Now, let's ignore the fact that we're punishing all oil companies and employees of those companies for some shit that BP did. Let's even ignore the devastating economic impact that would have on thousands of people, and the increase in the price of oil that would result from constricting supply. Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, perpetrated fraud. He should be removed from his position and tried in court.

Of course, because he's a henchman of the Obama regime, nothing will happen, and business as usual will continue. Our justice system is mortally wounded, but we luckily have judges like Feldman bringing in the jaws of life, even if it's too little, too late. I could have told you, and probably did, that the administration would use this crisis as an opportunity for an unprecedented expansion of federal power.

6/23/2010 8:33:48 PM

Any well rounded portfolio includes exposure to the energy sector.

The judge did the right thing and now you're trying to crucify him over something that likely didn't impact his decision at all simply because you disagree with him.

Quote :

"That judge just saved himself tens of thousands of dollars instantly with one ruling."

Are you his accountant? He owned $15k worth of stock in 2008 when oil was at it's peak - at that point every savvy investor had some money in energy. For all you know he sold all of it when oil prices began to drop. Furthermore, you have no idea what the total value of his portfolio is, so it's disingenuous (at best) for you to try to paint him as a pawn of Big Oil.

6/23/2010 9:40:41 PM

Quote :

"^^If you drive a combustion-engine automobile, you are tacitly endorsing nearly everything about oil companies How is someone going to take your arguments seriously when you're criticizing big oil, when you are one of their consumers? "

Its impossible to participate in society without adding to oil demand at all. I have a very small consumption of oil but society is setup that everyone is forced to increase the demand of oil at least some. Society has to change as a whole. This isnt a "each person" doing their part type of thing like ittering is.

Quote :

"But the rule in the OP is too broad and vague."

Its pretty clear. Once elected, you sell all interests in any private companies.

Government officials should not be capitalists or "savvy investors". They should not be businessmen in their personal lives. They should have interest in only one business.

6/24/2010 7:20:49 PM

Quote :

"Nor should their spices."

Haha what the fuck does this mean

6/24/2010 7:58:53 PM

So if an intelligent entrepreneur has a great idea for a new business/industry, that would help all types of people, make life better and more cost efficient for a large portion of a population, government officials shouldn't be able to invest in it, even if it would significantly benefit the population, just because its a privately run business?

again, your idea seems way too strict

are you also opposed to government employees making charity donations if you don't agree with the charity?

6/24/2010 7:59:46 PM

No, seriously. BLIND TRUSTS. This is one of the very reasons why there were created.

6/24/2010 8:06:47 PM

Quote :

"Nor should their spices."

the word is spouses..

[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 9:20 PM. Reason : unless wild herbs have been going crazy on hedge funds and i dont know..]

6/24/2010 9:19:31 PM

Quote :

"Government officials should not be capitalists or "savvy investors"."

I never said that the judge was a savvy investor; for all you know he had a broker looking after his retirement money and had no personal involvement with the market.

I'd prefer it if my government officials were capitalists and savvy investors. Then maybe we wouldn't be facing a debt crisis from the years of deficit spending.

6/24/2010 9:21:00 PM

Goddamn coriander.

6/24/2010 10:14:43 PM

He who controls the Spice, controls the universe!

6/24/2010 11:27:27 PM

hey wait has anyone made a dune joke yet

the spice must flow and shit

6/24/2010 11:35:37 PM

if you wanna be my official

you gotta sell all your stocks

6/24/2010 11:45:21 PM

6/25/2010 3:48:12 AM

Quote :

"A judge that owns parts of several oil companies and the oil drilling company transocean, shot down the ban on more potentially dangerous deep-ocean drilling."

Maybe the system needs tweaking, but most of these sort of senior public officials are required to declare their holdings above a certain threshold. As for the judge, maybe he should have recused himself. However, to be fair to a lot of these public servants, they may not be directly involved in their portfolios: they may simply hand their money over to a financial manager, provide high level instructions, and never know exactly what stock they hold.

6/25/2010 10:38:05 AM

[Edited on June 25, 2010 at 11:04 AM. Reason : ]

6/25/2010 11:03:39 AM

6/25/2010 11:11:03 AM

Quote :

"They should be able to invest in public options like bonds but not private companies."

or at least buy into the American Companies instead of foreign

6/25/2010 11:53:33 AM

When this thread was created, I didn't think it could get much dumber. I was wrong.

6/25/2010 1:26:25 PM

Since the judges ruling every major oil stock has dropped.

6/27/2010 3:04:11 PM