Tuesday

Access to the Best Inside Information of All

I never watch 60 Minutes. I used to watch, but then I read years ago that they film something like 30 hours of footage for each segment, thereby allowing them to slice and dice virtually any story to get the public verdict their politics desire. When I heard that, and then saw all the stories that they allegedly all-but concocted (Wikipedia), I stopped watching.

But I guess they aired a pretty interesting segment on Sunday about a shocking privilege currently enjoyed by The Ruling Class: lawful insider trading. Here's Zero Hedge's spin:

It would be perfectly understandable if some very righteous anger accompanies said question. Well, as it turns out, some, very few, Congressmen have a conscience and do believe in operating within the confines of the law, and 2 years ago proposed HR 682: Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act. HR 682, sponsored by Rep. Brian Baird, has a purpose "To prohibit securities and commodities trading based on nonpublic information relating to Congress, and to require additional reporting by Members and employees of Congress of securities transaction, and for other purposes." Wonder why you have never heard of HR 682, aside from the obvious: that Congress would never vote in a law to cut off this massive illegal form of funding for itself: "This bill never became law."

Note: There is apparently a new bill pending, which hasn't been deep-sixed yet.

Health Care

So, SCOTUS has agreed to hear constitutional challenges to the health care law. Quite frankly, it strikes me as specious to argue that there remain any Constitutional limits to the federal government's power, but if The Ruling Class wants to keep up the appearance that there are at least a few limitations on their power, this would be their opportunity. I'm not holding my breath.