Republicans run the risk of insider trading...

[LakeVermilion]

If the House Republicans continue to move toward default, keep an eye on their stock portfolios. They may be using this "crisis" to sell high and buy back in low.

I hope they are charged and convicted for insider trading.

[Tetrachloride]

1. There's no risk. What Republican has been sentenced or fined or forced out

[former9thward]

2. That is not what insider trading is.

Insider trading is when a specific company insiders make trades on information not available to the public. If you think the current debt negotiations present a selling/buying opportunity then you can act on it. Anyone can.

[unblock]

4. It doesn't have to be a company insider and I don't think it needs to be company-specific

If I deliver lunch to a business meeting and I overhear something juicy and I trade on it, that's insider trading even though I'm not an insider.

It only has to be material, non-public information.

Anyone can trade on the public information about the debt negotiations. But if a staffer knows, for instance, that the republicans have secretly agreed to refuse to go along with anything, that's material non-public information and it would be insider trading to trade based on that.

Having said that, I think many congress members have profited off such privy insights and few if any ever get prosecuted. I imagine they're careful to insert it, buried somewhere, in the congressional record so it's technically public information even though it may take a while for it to really get out.

[Zeitghost]

3. The debt ceiling/default situation

Is publicly available information.

There's no insider information to act on.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Just another perk for them.