The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Insider Trading and Asbestos
Last night, Louise Slaughter, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from New York, brought a serious message to Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Slaughter is working to ban insider trading on Capitol Hill and helped author the STOCK Act. If passed, the bill will prevent members of Congress and their staff from being able to profit from insider information. Of particular interest is the privileged knowledge Congressmen have on the status of legislation that can affect industry regulations or the stock market as a whole.
It seems like common sense: the intent of the STOCK Act is to stop Congress members from committing an act that is illegal for members of the public to perform. While the bill has stalled at time, it now appears to be gaining bipartisan momentum and is expected to be passed.
So what does this have to do with
asbestos
?
While much of the segment above is focused on financial regulations and politics, at the 5-minute mark the video begins to hit closer to home for the BAN cause. Rep. Slaughter cites an example of an asbestos company's stock sharply rising for no apparent reason around the same time as Congress was debating new legislation that would affect asbestos-related lawsuits. At the height of the issue, USG Corporation, the asbestos-producing company, saw its stock mysteriously double. It later turned out that USG Corporation’s growth was connected to people acting on a secret decision that Congress had decided to relieve companies like USG of their liabilities in mesothelioma lawsuits filed by victims who developed the disease as a result of asbestos exposure.
In other words, when lobbyists gained inside information that a Senate bill would not change reparations for victims of asbestos-related diseases, they were able to buy stocks at a low value. After the ruling became public, the stock prices of the asbestos-manufacturing companies rose since their businesses were no longer at risk of increased payouts to the injured parties.
While this issue isn’t directly tied to the BAN cause, there are many overlapping themes. For too long, companies have been allowed to put profits ahead of fairness, justice and human health. Meanwhile, asbestos is still manufactured and used in our country every day.
It’s time for our nation’s leaders to do the right thing. It’s time for business leaders to be treated the same as the public and for companies to be held accountable for any negligence and wrongdoing.
It’s time to ban asbestos now.