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Portfolio Insights by Brett Arends Archives | Email alerts
Nov. 16, 2011, 12:00 a.m. EST
By Brett Arends, MarketWatch
SALT LAKE CITY (MarketWatch) "” I'm an idiot.
After watching the "60 Minutes" expose of insider-dealing by members of Congress, I'm left wondering (not for the first time, I might add): Why on Earth did I choose journalism as a career? Watch the "60 Minutes" report.
Apparently we might be the only people in public life who aren't on the take.
Yes, I know, it's easy to be cynical. People assume we are all "up to it," and scandals like the one now breaking on Capitol Hill just add to that assumption.
But it's not true. If any reporter were caught doing the things alleged against some members of Congress, they'd be out. Canned. That afternoon. And they'd be barred from the industry for life. They'd be serving soy lattes for the rest of their days.
WSJ Global Economics Editor David Wessel outlines plans by the White House to name a Republican to fill one of two vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Spencer Bachus was shorting stocks during the financial crisis? As a reporter for Dow Jones, I'm not allowed to short stocks or own derivatives at all.
I'm not allowed to own any stock or bond I cover. Indeed, it is very difficult for me to own even an open-ended mutual fund I might write about. I would have loved to invest in Charles de Vaulx's IVA Worldwide /quotes/zigman/529219 IVWAX -0.18% fund, or in the Appleseed Fund /quotes/zigman/442173 APPLX -0.31% run by the Strauss brothers. But these money managers are excellent sources for my articles, so the wisest thing has been, alas, for me to steer clear.
The rules make it very difficult for me to invest at all. When I became a full-time investment writer five years ago, I had to sell all my stocks. That meant selling my Berkshire Hathaway /quotes/zigman/219651/quotes/nls/brk.a BRK.A -0.07% /quotes/zigman/583979/quotes/nls/brk.b BRK.B -0.12% and my Amazon.com /quotes/zigman/63011/quotes/nls/amzn AMZN -1.25% Inc. I hate to think how much it's cost me in lost profits. I have a horrible feeling that if I ever worked it out, I'd discover I have effectively been working for free.
Meanwhile, it turns out many of the people on Capitol Hill are just "oiling the wheel" without any compunction at all.
Sweetheart deals. Insider trading. Loading up in IPOs. It defies belief that Nancy Pelosi and her husband can own a ton of Visa /quotes/zigman/502306/quotes/nls/v V -0.91% stock while she is legislating on credit cards. I can't own Visa stock while I am writing about credit cards. What is wrong with our country?
They used to joke that politics was "showbusiness for ugly people." Turns out it's also the hedge-fund business for stupid people. Corrupt, greedy and immoral to a degree it's hard to imagine.
And here we are, you and I, just working for a living. What are we? A nation of suckers, that's what.
Brett Arends is a senior columnist for MarketWatch and a personal-finance columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
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Brett Arends is an award-winning financial columnist with many years experience writing about markets, economics and personal finance in Europe and the U.S... Expand
Brett Arends is an award-winning financial columnist with many years experience writing about markets, economics and personal finance in Europe and the U.S. He has received an individual award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers for his financial writing, and was part of the Boston Herald team that won two others. He was educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, and has worked as an analyst at McKinsey & Co. He is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS). His latest book, "Storm Proof Your Money," has just been published by John Wiley & Co. Collapse
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