Maximus Hypocritus... Nancy Pelosi

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny



Why just imagine! Nancy Pelosi made over 200% return on investment while blocking credit card reform for over two years. What a surprise. The champion of the people, a hypocrite as many of us have known all along.

Big Government - Former Speaker of the House–and current Minority Leader–Nancy Pelosi apparently bought $1 million to $5 million of Visa stock in one of the most sought-after and profitable initial public offerings (IPO) in American history, thwarted serious credit card reform for two years, and then watched her investment skyrocket 203%.

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In early 2008, Nancy Pelosi and her real estate developer husband, Paul, were given an opportunity to buy into a Visa IPO. It was a nearly impossible feat–one that average citizens almost certainly could never achieve. The vast majority of purchase opportunities went to institutional investors, large mutual funds, or pension funds.

Despite Pelosi’s consistent railing against credit card companies, on March 18, 2008, the Pelosis bought between $1 million and $5 million (politicians do not have to report the exact amounts, only ranges) worth of Visa stock at the IPO price of $44 per share. Two days later, the stock price rocketed to $65 per share, yielding a 50% profit. The Pelosis then bought Visa twice more. By their third purchase on June 4, 2008, Visa was worth $85 per share.

How did Nancy Pelosi snag one of the most coveted initial public offerings in history? The facts are still emerging. Yet according to Schweizer, corporations that wish to build congressional allies will sometimes hand-pick members of Congress to receive IPOs. Pelosi received her Visa IPO almost two weeks after a potentially damaging piece of legislation for Visa, the Credit Card Fair Fee Act, had been introduced in the House. If passed, the bill would have cut into Visa’s profits substantially by lowering so-called “interchange fees,” the 1% to 3% charge retailers pay Visa when customers use Visa cards for purchases. Interchange fees are a critical source of revenue for the four credit card companies–$48 billion in 2008, to be exact.

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Nancy Pelosi is hardly the only member of Congress to be given IPOs, but Pelosi has been especially “lucky” at landing them. She and her husband have participated in at least 10 lucrative IPOs throughout her career. In 1993, Pelosi purchased IPO shares in a high-tech company named Gupta, watched the stock price leap 88% in 24 hours, then seized the profits by selling the stock the next day. The Pelosis did the same thing with Netscape and UUNet, resulting in a one-day doubling of their initial investment. Other fast and lucrative IPO flips included Remedy Corporation, Opal, Legato Systems, and Act Networks.

Schweizer says Nancy Pelosi’s financial disclosure forms typically mask the precise dates of her stock buys. He cites the Pelosis’ December 1999 stock purchase of between $250,000 and $500,000 in shares from high-tech company OnDisplay. A few months later, OnDisplay was bought by Vignette, which resulted in up to $1 million in capital gains for the Pelosis. What was unusual about the transaction is that Vignette’s IPO was underwritten by a major campaign contributor and longtime friend of Nancy Pelosi, William Hambrecht. {Read More}

Indeed. When will the voters of California learn?

Via: Memeorandum

Comments

  1. Anything I see taken from Breitbart I have suspicions about Les.

    But it is funny that you and he are "outraged" over a rich person having an unfair advantage over small time investors like me. I appreciate the concern for the little guy you and Breitbart are showing.

    When Facebook does it's IPO I figure a few rich guys will get to be the first in on it and make a boatlaod of cash also. Let's get em Les! Darn rich people!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What's bad about Pelosi doing this is she has a strong record of legislative efforts to run and ruin everyone else's economic life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, I read all about the 60 minutes piece. I guess the GOP bad actors in this little play hold no interest for you guys, though, huh?

    Oh, and the sleazy conservatives on the Hill will NEVER allow reform to stop this legal insider trading in congress.

    JMJ

    ReplyDelete
  4. You want some more? Google Nancy Pelosi and golf course. That one'll really get you steaming.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Will,

    Here's what I got:

    http://pelosiwatch.us/Pelosi-Record/Truth-About-Nancy-Pelosi.html

    Innnnteresting....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nothing about Boehner or Bachus or Hastert or any of that, huh?

    Wow. And here I thought you guys weren't partisan Republicans.

    JMJ

    ReplyDelete
  7. jmj - Sorry, Boner is irrelevant. Hastert is gone. And Bachus, Hm, perhaps some research may be in order.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @JMJ,

    Why not simply return to your own blog and write about the evil Republicans? I see your last posting is from July 2010.

    Again, you seek to lump many of us in with the Republicans and the GOP and it simply is not accurate to do so.

    We are Independent Conservatives, Classical Liberals, Libertarian Constitutionalists. Nowhere in those descriptions will you find "GOP puppet" or "Big R Republican sycophants".

    Come on, man. Let's get on the same page here. This article is about Pelosi, a Democrat/Socialist. By your continued efforts, you seek to consistently show the demand to profile a GOP jerk or a Republican sheep every time someone slams a Democrat, as some sort of perverted yin-yang kinda thing.

    Tedious.

    ReplyDelete

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