Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the Fed, said this week that he planned to introduce legislation barring senior Fed officials from owning shares of stock in individual companies.
That ban should apply to Mr. Brown and his colleagues, too. It should apply to judges. It should apply to the executive branch. There is no good reason to let public officials trade securities. Indeed, such a law might have financial benefits for honest public officials. Putting money into an index fund is generally a better investment than buying individual assets — unless, of course, one is trading on the basis of insider information.
Source: Opinion | Why Public Officials Should Invest in the Index Mutual Fund – The New York Times
