Paul Ryan Acted Immediately After 2008 Bush WH Meeting on Impending Economic Meltdown

[cleduc]

76. I'm not trolling. I'm just trying to be objective and asking opinion if i'm out of line

From the TPM blog:
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/paul-ryan-insider-trading-rumor-quickly-debunked.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

The Romney campaign said Ryan had nothing to do with the trades in the first place. They were part of a Russell 1000 index fund that automatically traded stocks as part of a pre-set formula. Ryan’s disclosure forms include several similar trade patterns at various points throughout the year.

In a statement provided to TPM through the Romney campaign, Larry Gaffney, the independent accountant for the partnership who handled the trades in question, said the stocks were out of Ryan’s control.

“Trades are done automatically based on an algorithm on a regular basis,” said Gaffney, who works as a CPA in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wis. “In addition, this index was held at the time within a partnership in which Rep. Ryan had and continues to have no trading authority.”

Peter Schweizer, the conservative Hoover Institution fellow whose investigation of insider trading by members of Congress prompted the STOCK Act, said Ryan’s trades bore no resemblance to those by lawmakers like Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who shorted finance stocks after high-level meetings.

“ never like the idea of congressmen trading during times when they are dealing with major policy issues, but [it’s] not like Bachus where the timing is suspect,” he said in an e-mail.

Melanie Sloan of CREW concurred.

“You can’t be trading on insider information if the market is already closed,” Sloan told TPM.

Regarding the 7pm meeting after trading close:

The previous day:
The Candidates on the A.I.G. Bailout
September 17, 2008, 12:15 PM
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/the-candidates-on-the-aig-bailout/
"The markets indeed are not responding in a positive way so far to the news of the bailout"

Sep 17, 2008 2:03pm
Senate Majority Leader on Economic Woes: ‘No One Knows What to Do’
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/09/senate-majority/

After the 7pm meeting on Sep 18, 2008, Reid mentioned that they had had a few 'unusual' meetings lately.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/281223-1


So it gets murky for me. Certainly, there was plenty in the media that was troubling about the financial crisis the day before the Ryan trades got made. And as Reid pointed out, there were 'unusual' meetings before the one at 7pm on Sep 18th, 2008.

There's enough there for reasonable doubt at the very least for me - unless someone can point out where I'm misjudging.