U.S. lawmakers losing public trust over stock trading rules: NYT

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- America is facing a crisis of faith in its political system and elected leaders, as the issue of how to prevent members of Congress from improperly profiting from their positions became a hot topic again, according to an opinion piece published by The New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday.

"The issue grabbed renewed attention in the past two years after questions arose about whether certain lawmakers made stock trades based on their privileged knowledge about the COVID pandemic," wrote Michelle Cottle, a member of the newspaper's editorial board.

She mentioned that an investigation by Business Insider revealed last month that dozens of members of Congress had violated the reporting requirements on trading, adding that the U.S. Congress reportedly tends to be lax about punishing violators and about making information on this matter public.

Although Lawmakers from both parties "are rushing to offer up" solutions to the problem, "partisan posturing will be in full bloom" because it is "an election year," said the writer, pointing out that some lawmakers oppose major reform citing "a free-market economy."

"Lawmakers can obsess about making money once they leave office," said Cottle. "Until then, they need to stay focused on the public interest -- which includes taking steps to reassure the public that they aren't all a bunch of corrupt, self-serving, money-grubbing, power-hungry crooks."