I saw this from the WaPo today and it seems to be making the rounds: While this seems to be picking up steam as an issue, it's actually been around quite a while. I read about similar studies back in 2004 In short, these guys have way too much control over things.
At both firms I worked at on Wall Street, there was a continuously updated database of companies in which I was not allowed to personally invest. These were companies not only with whom we were doing business, but also businesses we were pitching. In a bulge bracket firm, it likely represents 70%-80% of publicly traded paper. In practice it made it impossible to invest in anything but funds run by outside managers. It seems the same rule would be pretty good for anyone who works for Congress. The President has to put his money in a blind trust, why not congressmen and staffers?
This would be good. Even better would be divesting them of much of their power to control others' affairs.
