Oh boy...

File this under the "not surprising, just infuriating" category. Members of Congress are exempt from insider trading laws (no, seriously, they are), which has of course led to abuses.

At least 72 aides on both sides of the aisle traded shares of companies that their bosses help oversee, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 3,000 disclosure forms covering trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers for 2008 and 2009.

The Journal analysis showed that an aide to a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee bought Bank of America Corp. stock before results of last year's government stress tests eased investor concerns about the health of the banking industry. A top aide to the House Speaker profited by trading shares of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in a brokerage account with her husband two days before the government authorized emergency funding for the companies. Another aide to Republican lawmakers interested in energy issues, among other things, profited by trading in several renewable-energy firms.

The aides identified by the Journal say they didn't profit by making trades based on any information gathered in the halls of Congress. Even if they had done so, it would be legal, because insider-trading laws don't apply to Congress.

Ridiculous. Even if we do pass campaign finance reform (and we must), self-excepting lawmaking like this will continue to ensure that lawmakers have conflicting interests at play. It can be very profitable for Congressmen to favor corporate interests over those of the individual, and Congressmen have clearly gone out of their way to make sure that profit opportunities remain.

Corporations and other special interests are absolutely overwhelming the individual right now, with a huge assist from our federal government. So what's the answer?

Installing harsh term limits won't help anything, because it only forces Congressmen to re-enter the private sector after their years of public service. If you knew you were a part-timer in Washington, why wouldn't you spend your time there being as friendly as possible to your once and future employers in the private sector?

Campaign finance reform is a first step, and a vital one. But there needs to be better self-policing within Congress. Self-excepting policies like this viciously undermine the public faith in elected officials, and to what end? It's a sad situation right now, and I can only shake my head when I read how far out of whack things really are.

[Wall Street Journal]