Conflict of interest for Big Hair Eric? You bet! But it won't really be a bet for Cantor to kill the debt ceiling talks and let the U.S. Treasury default on its debt. Might as well make a nice tidy profit if you are going to destroy the U.S. credit markets.
Eric's looks like he's a small time player, but to profit on obstructing an end to the debt crisis stinks to high heaven.
From Salon:
Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, had between $1,000 and $15,000 invested in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury EFT. The fund aggressively "shorts" long-term U.S. Treasury bonds, meaning that it performs well when U.S. debt is undesirable. (A short is when the trader hopes to profit from the decline in the value of an asset.)
According to his latest financial disclosure statement, which covers the year 2010 and has been publicly available since this spring, Cantor still has up to $15,000 in the same fund. Contacted by Salon this week, Cantor's office gave no indication that the Virginia Republican, who has played a leading role in the debt ceiling negotiations, has divested himself of these holdings since his last filing. Unless an agreement can be reached, the U.S. could begin defaulting on its debt payments on Aug. 2. If that happens and Cantor is still invested in the fund, the value of his holdings would skyrocket.
Full disclosure, I've been in and out of TBT (the symbol for this ETF) in the past, and if it looks like the debt shit is going to hit the fan, I'll be short again. But I'm just a citizen, and not the No. 2 Republican in the House.
Link to the Salon story:
http://www.salon.com/...