Outline

THESIS STATEMENT FROM STUDENT OUTLINE

Thesis Statement: The practice of politicians trading stocks while in office must be put to an end by means of legislative action aimed at making such moves illegal for each individual holding office within the federal government.

PROBLEM SECTION OF STUDENT OUTLINE

I: Politicians are legally allowed to trade stocks while in office, essentially creating a conflict.

of interest between their personal finances and laws that can affect stock prices.

a. Allowing politicians to continue to trade stocks while in office allows them to use their elected position for monetary gain.

b. Politicians holding stock in a company that may be affected by proposed legislation.

has the potential to cause that individual to vote differently than if he/she held no such stock.

ALTERNATE SOLUTION TO PROBLEM

III: Regulating insider trading would hold politicians accountable for making trades on stock between the time of acquiring political intelligence and actually voting on the legislation.

a. This does not completely eliminate the practice of trading stocks while in office, but aims to propose disciplinary action for those politicians caught using political intelligence for monetary gain.

b. Pursuing this as a solution would merely be a step in the right direction rather than ending the corrupt practice altogether.

PROPOSED SOLUTION TO PROBLEM

IV: Requiring politicians to place their stock holdings into a blind trust for the entirety of their time as an elected official is the best solution to this problem.

a. This solution would allow politicians to vote without conscious of their current holdings, essentially eliminating the conflict-of-interest issue.

b. Having a third party handle the stock holdings of politicians removes the temptation for them to make trades based on political intelligence.

c. Protecting the sanctity of a politician’s vote in combination with removing the temptation to shirk one’s duty to represent his/her constituents to obtain personal gain will restore voter confidence in our elected officials.