Regulatory Reform You Can Believe In:
Members of Congress Become Shareholders
By Benjamin Pacini
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Thursday, December 3, 2009 9:30 am
According to a recent article in the Washington Post, Members of Congress are becoming shareholders—that is, owners—of companies throughout the United States. The article argues that this is a bad thing. We disagree.
If we want to fix the economy, we have to fix incentives. What’s the easiest way to do that? Get Members of Congress to invest in the stock market.
When a Congressman owns stock, he is less likely to do things that will frustrate the market, such as increasing the corporate income tax. Furthermore, becoming a part of the investor class is an important part of becoming independent from the government, and planning one’s own life. It also gives them some skin in the game, meaning they won’t do idiotic things to tank the equities market like double the capital gains tax. In other words, making bad law will affect both their reelection and their pocketbook.
There are, however, conflicts of interest when a Congressman gets to write laws that affect his or her company. The way to fix this problem, however, is not regulation, but transparency. That is, instead of creating one more regulatory government bureaucracy, let the Washington Post keep an eye on Congressional dealings, and sniff out anything that might be amiss.
In other words, Congress should not be barred from owning stocks. Maybe they should be forced to buy a couple instead.
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The ONLY way to make this government accountable is to open it up! Taxpayers should be able to see how Congress spends EVERY dime of our money - and we should get to see these atrocious bills before they are passed in the thick of the night. Enough of Pelosi jamming terrible legislation down our throats - transparency NOW!
>> John December 3, 2009 9:53 am
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