We trust our elected officials with a great deal of power and sensitive information. Unfortunately, many of them use this power and information to enrich themselves instead of serving their constituents. This corruption is seen in two ways: 

1. Personal investments in specific companies and sectors influence how our representatives vote (i.e., Rep. Jones holds a large amount of Northrop Grumman stock and consequently votes in favor of large increases to military spending.)

2. Advance knowledge of government actions enables representatives to adjust their portfolios and profit even when markets sink (i.e., Rep Jones knows early that the US will be bailing out failing banks and buys stock in that bank for pennies on the dollar before markets can react.)

The solution is simple and is already used by a variety of businesses and financial institutions: ban our representatives from investing in individual stocks and industry-specific products. This ban can be coupled with strict penalties and loss of office if violated.

Once again, this issue and its solution are bipartisan. We have seen both Democrats and Republicans take advantage of their position to enrich themselves. On the other side, we’ve seen efforts from both sides to put an end to this problem, with both Senators R. Josh Hawley and D. Jon Ossoff working to push forward legislation to end the practice. Americans don’t trust their representatives; Jacob will ban congressional financial profiteering to help restore that trust.

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