Is the real problem the stock trades, or the fact that nobody gets caught when they cross the line? That distinction matters. A blanket ban treats every public official like a potential crook, and it doesn't even stop the crooks. They'd just route trades through spouses, shell companies, or that cousin nobody talks about. Meanwhile, honest officials lose a legitimate way to build wealth, which makes public service even less attractive for people who aren't already rich. Instead of banning individual stocks, we should be sharpening the tools that already exist: mandatory blind trusts for sensitive positions, real-time public disclosure, and an independent ethics office with actual teeth. The system's failure isn't that officials can trade. It's that conflicts aren't detected or punished. The feedback loop is broken, not the market access. A ban feels clean, but it's cosmetic. Enforce the rules we have, and you address the actual corruption without punishing everyone else.

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