Maybe Rand Paul is right about the Federal Reserve (commenter liberal via Disequilibria, which excerpts this article but strangely links to a different story):
The minutes from that same gathering of the powerful Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, are made available to the public — but only after a three-week lag. So Meyer’s clients were provided with a glimpse into what the Fed was thinking well ahead of other investors.
[….]A respected economist, Meyer charges clients around $75,000 for his product, which includes a popular forecasting service. He frequently shares his research with reporters, though he kept this note out of the public eye. Reuters obtained a copy from a market source. Meyer declined to comment for this story, as did the Federal Reserve.
jinxtigr
You ain’t even ‘Number Two’…
beltane
Is Meyer a member of the FOMC? I suppose conflict-of-interest concerns don’t apply to the master of the universe class.
Amir_Khalid
Can he be prosecuted for dealing in inside information?
saucy
This is bad behavior on someone’s part, but no, it doesn’t mean Rand Paul’s conspiracy theories are correct.
jwb
@beltane: What conflict of interest? I thought it was common wisdom that what’s good for the master of the universe class is good for the country.
Just Some Fuckhead
God bless Larry Meyer for looking after Jesusland.
beltane
@jwb: Yes, yes, I forgot about the altruism that is required of the peasant class. We should celebrate the productivity and well-earned success of the nobility. I would appreciate it though, if they rode around on horseback and dressed a little more elegantly. Today’s elite are a bunch of slobs with no equestrian skills.
TJ
@jinxtigr:
I beg to differ. We are indeed number two to the upper crust.
Linda Featheringill
@beltane:
LOL! Love it!
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal
@beltane:
No. He’s a former Fed governor, but not currently a Fed employee of any sort.
This isn’t a conflict of interest. No current employee of the Fed stands to gain from these leaks. It’s more a matter that current Fed employees don’t know how to keep their mouths shut, combined with the fact that the Fed gathers a lot of its information by asking people in private banking for information about what they see in the markets, including proprietary data. In exchange, they talk about the Fed.
I don’t think that there’s any way to avoid this. Instead, I’m in favor of a lot more transparency on the part of the Fed.
Janus Daniels
@beltane:
They could also revive dueling, and invent world mass dueling for the rich.
beltane
@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal: Thanks. The excerpt didn’t make clear what Meyer’s status was.
Origuy
@Janus Daniels:
The new team sport mistermix was looking for!
bjacques
They already have mass dueling for the rich–by proxy. It’s called “war.”