It’s not hard to see why some politicians are calling for a ban on lawmakers trading stocks. The problems of senators and House reps getting filthy rich and generating conflicts of interest have been with us for a long time. But the loot amassed by former California Democrat and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is raising eyebrows afresh.
According to the widely followed X account “Unusual Whales,” which tracks suspicious trades, Pelosi has made $5 million recently from her stock in the company Nvidia, which is now the most valuable company in the world (albeit with a much higher price to earnings ratio than second and third place, Microsoft and Apple). The company is best-known for its computer graphics cards powering popular high resolution video games, but like all such companies, it’s branching out into Artificial Intelligence (AI).
For reference, this is 20 times her annual salary.
An earlier story from a few weeks ago reported that Pelosi’s husband Paul made stock moves with Nvidia that netted the couple almost $4 million at that point.
What are the odds that their percent returns exceed that of investment legends like Warren Buffet?
It will probably be difficult or impossible to round up enough lawmakers to get a ban on congressional stock trading; too many people are feeding at that trough. Past legislation that claimed to ban the practice have done anything but. Politicians have always sought to enrich themselves above the “plebs” they pretend to serve, but the extremity of Pelosi’s wealth generation has really gotten under the skin of ordinary Americans.
Politicians are able to insulate themselves from much contact with real people, but the feelings of ordinary citizens flow freely on Elon Musk’s X.
Bruce is not alone. Like many others, “FrankChronicles” believes Pelosi is engaged in insider trading. These are just suspicions and allegations, but they’re widely shared.
Then again, so is skepticism about accusations of insider trading:
But on the other-other hand, Pelosi’s return on investment has some people questioning how it is that a congresswoman seems to be outperforming top investment advisors.
We’re unlikely to find out for sure whether Pelosi or any other politician is getting inside tips because the system is set up to protect corruption for the powerful – but it’s safe to assume that’s exactly what’s happening.
Are you a casual or professional investor? What’s your take on Pelosi’s Nvidia windfall? Let us know in the comments.
