A Bill to prohibit Insider Training

Getting financial insider information for personal financial gain (i.e. in the stock market, etc) is illegal in the United States...unless you're in Congress that is. Or at least that's the way it is now. Somehow, a loophole in the 'anti-insider-trading law' permits the gain or giving of the knowledge that would give an insider a "leg-up" in the competition...in this case, the "insider" would be a Congressman. The loophole? Current clauses in the laws pertaining to this subject matter exclude the giving or receiving "nonpublic information about current or upcoming congressional activity", this only works due to the fact that Congress members arent exactly obligated to keep such information confidential.

There is currently a bill that people are trying to get passed in an attempt to stop this. A peice to the idea behind this bill says that it would "require members of Congress and employees to report the purchase, sale or exchange of any stock, bond, or commodities future transaction in excess of $1,000 within 90 days."

One possible problem that this bill would face? The bill has to be passed by Congress before it can move on to be eventually (hopefully) passed. Congress...the very people who this bill is designed to stop from making additional money on the side.

GOP Debate November 9, 2011

The republican debate on November 9^th  was to be focused on economics; but sadly America did not come away from this with much as for the answers we were looking for. Herman Cain only seemed to know one thing about the economy, and that was “a bold plan” known as the 9-9-9 plan. Rick Perry seemed to forget a third of what he knew. And Newt Gingrich seemed to think that no one else in the world knew anything about history or economics (and yet somehow, in spite of those remarks, he is now ‘the new favorite’).  Despite what little some candidates seemed to know, there were a few times when it seemed that a candidate did really well. For example, a ‘guest moderator’ half-jokingly requested more time to be given to Ron Paul so he could solve the deficit problem. There has already been some time since this debate, now, and sadly, America only seems to be focused on the fact that Rick Perry forgot his own plan.

Republican Primaries coming early?

Once upon a time, there seemed to be an unspoken yet established rule that the Republican Primaries would happen at a certain time of year in direct correlation to the actual votes for President.

but something strange seems to have happened this year. for some reason a few states have tossed around the idea of moving their primary dates up as early as December! and doing so would cause some states who have the 'rights' to go first in said primaries to have to move up the dates to even earlier!

But what would that mean? the big glaring response is "elections are sooner than you think".
you know how, during school, you suddenly find the deadline on an assignment closer than it should be when you haven't really started? this seems to fit the situation. having the primaries so close makes one suddenly wonder how well they've been paying attention to whats going on, making them really start examining the candidates to choose one if they haven't already, or to be sure the one they have their eye on is the right one for them.

then again, there may also be some out there who are relieved the primaries are coming so early, they already are 100% certain of their choice, or they could simply care less.

reguardless, it seems like no matter if we are prepared or not, primaries are coming sooner than we think.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/8825382/Republican-primaries-could-start-before-end-of-the-year.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_election#Presidential
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-new-hampshire-primary-20111012,0,5497107.story