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Asset sales came after meeting with Fed, Treasury chiefs
Durbin cashed out during big stock collapse :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: News (http://www.suntimes.com/news/1620776,CST-NWS-durbin13.article - broken link)
Quote:
As U.S. stock markets plummeted last September, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, sold more than $115,000 worth of stocks and mutual-fund shares and used much of the money to invest in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
The Illinois senator's 2008 financial disclosure statement shows he sold mutual-fund shares worth $42,696 on Sept. 19, the day after then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged congressional leaders in a closed meeting to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. The same day, he bought $43,562 worth of Berkshire Hathaway's Class B stock, the disclosure shows.
Wow. This guy should be in a heap of trouble, but he's a democrat so I'm almost certain he will get a pass.
What's the big deal? First of all, everyone was dumping stock then. Second of all, Berkshire B owns mostly insurance companies and banks!!! Third of all, $115k is very little money in the stock world. I buy and sell that regularly.
Big deal is that he was privy to information that would have a direct affect on the stock market and he used that information in trading.
It's called insider trading but this is an odd case as how often does Congress get threatened of total financial collapse by the Treasury and Fed behind closed doors ?
Ethically he was wrong but ethics don't mean much in Washington.
What's the big deal? First of all, everyone was dumping stock then.
Not everyone had "insider" information and dumped stocks based upon that information. If true, its illegal, ask Martha Stewart
Quote:
Originally Posted by fauve
Second of all, Berkshire B owns mostly insurance companies and banks!!!
Not true at all, Berkshire owns a large percentage of
Coca Cola, Washington Post, Wal Mart, PG, Norfolk Southern, Nike, etc. Buffet doesnt care what he buys provided he undertands the business, and get a fabulous deal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fauve
Third of all, $115k is very little money in the stock world. I buy and sell that regularly.
The amount is ilrelevant if it due to insider information.
Big deal is that he was privy to information that would have a direct affect on the stock market and he used that information in trading.
It's called insider trading but this is an odd case as how often does Congress get threatened of total financial collapse by the Treasury and Fed behind closed doors ?
Ethically he was wrong but ethics don't mean much in Washington.
And you know this how? Even Ray Charles could see that it was time to ditch the market, and he is not only blind, but dead.
Not true at all, Berkshire owns a large percentage of
Coca Cola, Washington Post, Wal Mart, PG, Norfolk Southern, Nike, etc. Buffet doesnt care what he buys provided he undertands the business, and get a fabulous deal.
Wrong. fauve was referencing the difference between Berkshire Class A and Class B. Class B, which is what Durbin bought, is primarily in the financial and insurance sector. Class B is signficantly down since Durbin bought in September 2008.
Wrong. fauve was referencing the difference between Berkshire Class A and Class B. Class B, which is what Durbin bought, is primarily in the financial and insurance sector. Class B is signficantly down since Durbin bought in September 2008.
It doesnt matter the difference between Class A and Class B for THIS discussion. They BOTH hold equity in THE SAME COMPANY and the difference between the two are things like voting rights etc. No where did he seperate his discussion based upon "class" and even if he did, it adds nothing because they BOTH hold assets in the same Company, i.e. Berkshire Hathaway, who holds assets in LOTS of non banking enterprises..
The fact that Berkshire Hathaway stock is down is also irelevant, or what Durbin bought with his proceeds of the sale, even if he used it to buy a hooker. The question is, did he sell the OTHER stocks based upon insider information? YES OR NO? What he did with his money AFTER he sold the OTHER stock does not enter into an equation for illegal insider trading activity.
It doesnt matter the difference between Class A and Class B for THIS discussion. They BOTH hold equity in THE SAME COMPANY and the difference between the two are things like voting rights etc. No where did he seperate his discussion based upon "class" and even if he did, it adds nothing because they BOTH hold assets in the same Company, i.e. Berkshire Hathaway, who holds assets in LOTS of non banking enterprises..
The fact that Berkshire Hathaway stock is down is also irelevant, or what he did with his proceeds, even if he used it to buy a hooker. The question is, did he sell the OTHER stocks based upon insider information? YES OR NO? What id did with his money AFTER he sold the OTHER stock does not enter into an equation for illegal insider trading activity.
Please educate yourself about how Berkshire works before commenting anymore. And the fact is is that what you said was 100% incorrect. But why would that bother you.
Please educate yourself about how Berkshire works before commenting anymore. And the fact is is that what you said was 100% incorrect. But why would that bother you.
Since I make my living off of stocks, I guarantee you I know more than you do about the issue. Lets not even discuss that the fact that BRK.B stock was bought instead of BRK.A which adds nothing at all to the topic.
NOT ONE THING I said was wrong, nothing, Both BRK.A and BRK.B are stock securities ON THE SAME COMPANY, i.e. Berkshire Hathaway, who hold HUGE amounts of investments in non banking businesses. The ONLY differences between them is one is preferred stock, the other one is common..
In addition, it does not matter what Durbin did with the proceeds after he sold the first stock. Pretending that it does is just that, pretend. the ONLY thing that matters for the topic is, did Durbin sell the original stock due to insider information. I'm not claiming the answer is yes to this, I'm seperating facts from your fantasy discussion that BRK.A vs BRK.B matters..
Not true at all, Berkshire owns a large percentage of
Coca Cola, Washington Post, Wal Mart, PG, Norfolk Southern, Nike, etc. Buffet doesnt care what he buys provided he undertands the business, and get a fabulous deal.
Incorrect representation of BRK.B.
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Wrong. fauve was referencing the difference between Berkshire Class A and Class B. Class B, which is what Durbin bought, is primarily in the financial and insurance sector. Class B is signficantly down since Durbin bought in September 2008.
