Scott Brown Introduces Bill Applying Insider Trading Laws To Congress: ‘We Serve The Public, Not Our Bank Accounts’

By Pat Garofalo/Think Progress

In an attempt to burnish his Wall Street reformer credentials ahead of his race against Harvard Law Professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) today plans to introduce the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2011, which would apply laws against insider trading to members of Congress, who are currently thought to be exempt from such measures. Brown’s move comes after a 60 Minutes report showed that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) traded on information he received in private briefings at the height of the financial crisis, earning nearly $30,000.

In a statement, Brown said he was introducing the bill because “we serve the public, not our bank accounts”:

Members of Congress should live under the same laws as everyone else. If they trade on inside knowledge to line their own pockets, they should be punished. Serving the public is a privilege and an honor, not an opportunity for personal gain. I hope every Senator will join me in this effort to lend greater credibility to our work and restore trust in this institution. We serve the public, not our bank accounts, and no one should be allowed to enrich themselves based on inside government information that is not available to the general public.

Brown is not the only one pounding away on the insider trading issue today, as Newt Gingrich said earlier that Congress should “absolutely” have to follow laws against insider trading. A version of the STOCK Act was introduced in the House earlier this year, but gained only five co-sponsors.

This is the second thing Brown has done today to bolster his financial reform credibility, following his earlier endorsement of President Obama’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But these positions don’t change the fact that Brown worked towater down key provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law before granting the law his support, actions which earned him the appreciative donations of the financial services industry.

Cantor Rakes In Wall Street Donations While Calling Occupy Protesters A ‘Mob’

By Pat Garofalo/Think Progress

When the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations first gained some national prominence, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) derided the protesters as a “mob,” saying, “Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans.”

Cantor eventually softened his rhetoric, and even scheduled a talk about income inequality (that heproceeded to cancel when he realized that the public would be allowed to attend). But Cantor has plenty of reasons to bash the protests because, as Roll Call noted today, Cantor’s top contributor this year is Wall Street:

Cantor’s personal political action committee has collected close to $2 million so far this year, placing it well ahead of any other leadership PAC in the House or Senate. In all of his fundraising efforts, top executives at banks, hedge funds and securities and investment firms play a starring role. Securities and investment industry donors have given close to $350,000 to both Cantor’s campaign and his leadership PAC this year, making them his top source of donations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

But Cantor has raised millions more than that for a lucrative operation known as the Cantor Victory Fund 2012…Ten major donors, many of them top executives with finance industry firms, have given $50,000 or more this year to the Cantor Victory Fund, which has collected $2.4 million, according to the most recent public disclosures.

Cantor has pushed several policies near and dear to Wall Street’s heart, including protecting tax loopholes for hedge fund managers, while managing to come up with no ideas for addressing income inequality. In fact, he believes we should just depend on the wealthy to bring down inequality through the goodness of their hearts. And so far, Wall Street has certainly shown its appreciation for Cantor’s positions.

Wall Street Will Pay Record-Breaking Compensation While Americans Still Struggle With Financial Crisis

By Tanya Somanader The financial meltdown of 2008 spurred lawmakers to crackdown on the notorious pay packages that characterized Wall Street largess. Seeking to limit the spending sprees, Congress enacted direct restrictions on compensation in the Wall Street reform law to ensure firms were responsible to taxpayers and their shareholders.

However, while excessive compensation underpinned the “irrational risk” taken by financial employees to “focus on short-term results at the cost of long-term success,” it appears that nothing has changed. According to a new Wall Street Journal survey, Wall Street firms are continuing their rapid return to pre-crisis revenue levels. In celebrating their taxpayer-assisted comeback, firms are on pace to spend $144 billion in compensation this year, setting a new record high in pay for the second consecutive year:

About three dozen of the top publicly held securities and investment-services firms—which include banks, investment banks, hedge funds, money-management firms and securities exchanges—are set to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year, a 4% increase from the $139 billion paid out in 2009, according to the survey. Compensation was expected to rise at 26 of the 35 firms[...]

Overall, Wall Street is expected to pay 32.1% of its revenue to employees, the same as last year, but below the 36% in 2007. Profits, which were depressed by losses in the past two years, have bounced back from the 2008 crisis. But the estimated 2010 profit of $61.3 billion for the firms surveyed still falls about 20% short from the record $82 billion in 2006. Over that same period, compensation across the firms in the survey increased 23%.

It is important to note that the methodology of the survey was not published and this year’s compensation may not constitute a record if you aren’t comparing that sum to total Wall Street pay in 2007. However, the study does highlight that, while Wall Street profits are down 20 percent from pre-crisis levels, firms have actually increased pay by 23 percent. And, in surveying bankers and finance professionals’ expectations for bonuses, 50% expect an increase in bonus pay from last year. Banks may also skirt the Bush tax cut expiration to ensure employees can still take home a large compensation.

As CBS’s Jill Schlesinger points out, this pay scheme “will no doubt drive folks on Main Street crazy because they will rightly feel banks” are “back on track, while the rest of the country is left grappling with sagging home prices and retirement accounts that are far from their pre-crisis highs.”

Indeed, while Wall Street bonuses alone “run to millions of dollars for top staff,” the average income for the American worker is $68,914. And, according to a recent survey, 43% of American workers now have less than $10,000 in retirement savings and only 16% percent said “they have confidence in their ability to save enough for a comfortable retirement.” Despite the advice of most financial experts, a record number of people are also making hardship withdrawals from their retirement accounts because “taking loans and hardship withdrawals from their company-sponsored retirement accounts may be the only source of savings they have to bridge the growing gap between their earnings and the cost of living during the economic downturn.” On top of retirement trouble, Americans are facing record numbers of foreclosures and harassment at the hands of the same banks that engineered the housing crisis.

But, according to Wall Street firms, the average American worker and the executive “top talent” have very different worth. “The pay scale for Wall Street is different [from] the pay scale for America,” said one financial lobbyist. “I don’t think the issue is a dollar amount. It’s being paid what you’re worth.”

Wall Street giants are ‘giving most of their campaign donations’ to the GOP.

By Ben Armbruster Throughout the past year, Republicans in Congress and top Wall Street banks have been working together in a symbiotic relationship in which the GOP works to water-down

financial regulatory reform in exchange for campaign cash. The Wall Street Journal reports that the pact seems to be paying off, at least for the GOP:

For the first time since 2004, the biggest Wall Street firms are now giving most of their campaign donations to Republicans.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of 12 large financial services companies, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shows that they have collectively made $1.4 million in political donations, with 52% going to Republicans so far this year. That’s a reversal from last year, according to the most recent round of fund-raising reports covering January, February and March. [...]

The change of allegiance comes as Congress closes in on legislation that would overhaul financial services regulations. Democrats back an aggressive bill that has been so far blocked in the Senate by Republicans.

Since 1989, Goldman has never given more to the GOP than it has to Democrats, but this year, the company has given 52 percent of its PAC money to Republicans. Moreover, Wall Street firms “have also begun writing large checks to the Republican Party, while stiffing the Democratic Party,” the Journal writes, noting that “Goldman, KPMG, and FMR Corp. (the owner of Fidelity Investments) each gave $15,000 to the Republican Party in March.”