Eric Cantor Hit By Democrats For Potentially Profiting From U.S. Default

[KittyWampus]

Eric Cantor Hit By Democrats For Potentially Profiting From U.S. Default

Huffington Post

House Democrats are circulating a resolution accusing House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) of having a conflict of interest in the debt ceiling debate, a move that could provide an awkward C-SPAN moment for one of the lead Republicans in the budget negotiations.

The resolution goes after Cantor's investment in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury ETF, a fund that "takes a short position in long-dated government bonds."

The fund is essentially a bet against U.S. government bonds. If the debt ceiling is not raised and the United States defaults on its debts, the value of Cantor's fund would likely increase.

The Democratic resolution, obtained by The Huffington Post from a Democratic source on the Hill, argues that Cantor "stands to profit from U.S. treasury default, which thereby raises the appearance of a conflict of interest," and that he "may be sabotaging negotiations for his own personal gain." It's not clear how widely the measure was being circulated, with a House Democratic aide saying they hadn't seen the resolution or heard it being discussed.

[Parker CA]

1. YES!! Spread this far and wide!! Kick and Rec!!!

[Old and In the Way]

2. legislative treason

There are a lot of people in Congress betting against this country. Everyone of these people should be exposed for what they are - disaster capital profiteers.

[gkhouston]

3. Question: are there others? n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

13. Bill Gross at PIMCO has been shorting US Treasuries for months in his

Total Return Bond fund. It is the largest mutual fund in the world.

Suffice to say that I would be shocked if there was anyone in Congress not holding it. Along with Blackrock and Ivy (and unlike Cantors passive ETF), it is a core holding in many, many portfolios.

[sasha031]

4. do you have a link, yes we should spread this

[KittyWampus]

6. Here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/08/eric-cantor-conflict-interest-debt-limit_n_893354.html

[sasha031]

7. thank you

:thumbsup:

[OhioChick]

19. Thanks...

I look forward to passing this gem around...

[catbyte]

5. That oughta be fucking treason, pardon my Francais

[vssmith]

8. How much does he actually have invested in this ETF?

[sad sally]

9. Wonder if some of those business leaders the President referred to as

being hesitant to say anything might also have interests in these funds? Bailed out banks have used lots of their almost free discount window money to buy up pot fulls of treasury instruments.

11:43: Obama says he has spoken extensively to business leaders about the debt ceiling/deficit. He says "in the abstract" they want a deal on this issue — including revenues. He says they don't want to weigh in publicly because they have business pending before Congress and "they don't want to make Congress mad."

[proud patriot]

10. kick rec and shared

shout it from the rooftops

[rdking647]

11. as much as i hate cantor

this is a non story. he owns 100 shares of TBT worth 3300. he has a pension worth 260k in government bonds.

If the government defaults and lets say for example bond drop 50%.
he will make double that or 6600 on his TBT and lose over 100k on his government pension.

so think that somehow he would cause a default over 3k or so of TBT is just plain stupid. the left should be smarter than this and hit on on real issues instead of something stupid like this


and in the interest of full disclosure. I own a hell of a lot more TBT than cantor. becasue no matter what happens I cant see bonds staying this high

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. Questions for you

Does a federal pension have value (as in an account), or is it an income promise (Defined benefit or defined contribution)?

Secondly, how do you know what the investment strategy is - or is that by mandate?

[rdking647]

16. not sure

i dont know if it has value or is a defined benefit. as to the strategy that was in the huffpo post.

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. I have been saying for weeks that we need to shout this loud and far.

How is this NOT a conflict of interest? Why hasn't the House Parliamentarian weighed in on this??

[rdking647]

17. house rules already make it legal

[Kingofalldems]

15. Never trust a republican---incredibly sneaky and dishonest.

[QED]

18. His smarminess will never admit he's wrong.

He is so creepy!