According to his 2008 financial disclosure report, Paul Ryan made 58 trades in individual stocks in 2008--27 of them in large money-center banks.
Benjy Sarlin writes:
Paul Ryan Insider Trading Rumor Quickly Debunked | TPM2012: It had the makings of a scandal: Paul Ryan traded banking stocks during the financial crisis the same day as a meeting with top Treasury Department officials, a Virginia blog wrote Monday…. 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.
Russell Investments says:
Russell 1000 Index - U.S. Large Cap Index: The Russell 1000 Index measures the performance of the large-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. It is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index and includes approximately 1000 of the largest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. The Russell 1000 represents approximately 92% of the U.S. market. The Russell 1000 Index is constructed to provide a comprehensive and unbiased barometer for the large-cap segment and is completely reconstituted annually to ensure new and growing equities are reflected.
There is no way in hell--if you are rebalancing to try to track the Russell 1000 index--you make only 58 trades in a year, that you make 27 of those 58 in large money-center banks, and that 10 of those trades involve shifting your money from Citi to Goldman and back five times.
No way in hell.
I don't know what was going on. But it appears that Ryan's flacks are--for some reason--simply making s@#& up.
That is all…
