The Real Problem Isn’t That Lawmakers Buy Stocks—It’s That They Can Move Markets

The Real Problem: Politicians Run Financial Markets

THE SCANDAL ISN’T THE STOCK TRADE—IT’S THE SYSTEM THAT ENABLES IT

When Maryland Rep. April McClain Delaney reported dropping up to $45K into biotech stocks—Labcorp and Bio-Techne—the “Pelosi Tracker” crowd lit up like a Christmas tree. And for good reason: yet another government insider profiting from an industry she supposedly “oversees.”

But here’s the kicker: owning stock isn’t the sin. The rot lies in the fact that Congress has the power to tip the scales for entire sectors of the economy. That’s the real heist. If Washington didn’t hold the syringe that keeps these companies alive with subsidies, approvals, and regulatory favors, no one would care what Delaney bought.

The real outrage isn’t personal corruption—it’s systemic. It's the kind of baked-in moral hazard you get when the state becomes both referee and player in the same rigged casino.

Biotech and Crony Capitalism in Washington

CRONY CAPITALISM IN A LAB COAT

Biotech companies aren’t inherently evil. Labcorp and Bio-Techne make real products and employ real scientists. But their success hinges on how much taxpayer cash D.C. decides to inject into the sector.

That’s not capitalism. That’s cartelism with a lab coat. When the future of innovation depends on pleasing bureaucrats instead of customers, you don’t have a free market. You have a court of royal favor where lobbyists replace competition and campaign cash buys market access.

This is how the state co-opts enterprise. And once you’re dependent on Washington’s teat, you’re no longer a business—you’re a ward of the empire.

YOU CAN’T OUTLAW CORRUPTION WHEN POWER ITSELF IS CORRUPT

Cue the reformists. “Ban stock trades! Launch an ethics office! More oversight!” Spare me. That’s just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Every new rule is another sandbox for insiders to exploit.

The only real solution? Strip the system of its power. Take away Congress’s ability to funnel billions to favored industries, and you remove the incentive for lawmakers to gamble on sectors they secretly steer. If government didn’t distort markets, there’d be nothing to exploit.

You don’t fix this with another ethics panel. You fix it with a flamethrower to federal power.

TRANSPARENCY IS GOOD—IF YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT

Oddly enough, the STOCK Act—the law requiring Congress to disclose trades—is one of the few things they’ve gotten half-right. Not because it stops corruption, but because it shines a light on it.

Thanks to online sleuths and public records, we now have digital bloodhounds sniffing out who’s getting rich while you’re eating inflation for breakfast. That’s the kind of citizen power I can get behind. Watchdogs with spreadsheets are a hell of a lot more trustworthy than any Congressional “integrity office.”

CONGRESS SHOULDN’T CONTROL THE ECONOMY—PERIOD

Every headline about a crooked stock trade treats it like a one-off scandal. It’s not. It’s the logical outcome of a regime where Washington has its claws in everything—healthcare, finance, energy, tech, agriculture, even social media algorithms.

That’s not oversight. That’s ownership.

And as long as Congress acts like it’s running the command console of the economy, lawmakers will always be tempted to bet on the markets they manipulate. Why wouldn’t they? The house always wins when the house writes the rules.

THE RIGHT QUESTION

You want the real red pill? Stop asking why a politician invests in biotech. Start asking why biotech companies need a politician’s blessing to exist in the first place.

If the market were actually free—if labs could rise or fall on merit instead of federal grants and regulatory green lights—there’d be no backroom favors to trade on. No need for a “Subcommittee on Biotechnology” to micromanage innovation.

You want less corruption? Remove the crown from the king’s head.

FINAL WORD: THEY OWN THE GAME—UNTIL YOU FLIP THE BOARD

Delaney’s trades are a symptom. The disease is the power structure that makes those trades so lucrative in the first place. You can ban all the stock trades you want—hell, make every congresscritter invest in nothing but canned beans and war bonds—it won’t matter if D.C. still holds the market hostage.

The only reform that matters is this: take back the power.

Because the market isn’t corrupted because politicians trade stocks.
The market is corrupted because politicians run it.

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