What I learnt on The Daily Show today:

People in the so-called Political Intelligence business (who aren’t classified as lobbyists) sold access to members of Congress at $10,000 a pop to hedge fund managers, who used the (non-public) information they gathered about bills not yet passed to make millions. In other words, insider trading. And members of Congress themselves are legally able to take positions in the stock market based on information they know about bills they will pass that will impact those same stocks – doing exactly what Gordon Gecko was espousing in ‘Wall Street’. In other words, members of Congress are somehow exempt from insider trading (criminal) laws. And people like Eric Cantor, when asked to support a bill that would correct this glaring loophole, say “eh!”

And they wonder why people hate Congress so much. Infuriating!

Here’s Jon Stewart’s opening segment explaining what’s going on:

And here’s his interview with Representative Louise Slaughter who has been working to ban congressional insider trading: