Pandemic Profiteers Lose Senate Seats, But Not By Much
Why insider trading is a threat to American democracy.
Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue lost their Senate seats this past Wednesday in the high-stakes Georgia run-off that was overshadowed by the attack on the capital, giving the Democrats the two seats they needed in order to have a Congress that would work with President-elect Joe Biden, rather than get in his way.
But the truly remarkable thing about the Loeffler and Perdue campaigns is how close they were to winning.
Both Georgia Senators were caught making money off of the stock market with their inside information on the pandemic — while telling their constituents that everything was under control and opposing the stimulus to help working people to boot — but got millions of votes anyway, which begs the question of whether Georgia voters didn’t know, or simply don’t care.
Making trades with non-public information is illegal to citizens, and punishment for insider trading can be as harsh as $5 million and 20 years in prison. Not that Kelly Loeffler, whose estimated net worth just crossed $1 billion, would flinch at either the figure or the jail time that the rich in this country never seem to see. But even more suspicious is the fact that…
