Does prohibiting Members of Congress from owning stock go far enough?

I heartily endorse a practice that would require Members of Congress to put the stocks, bonds, and real estate they own into a blind trust at least for the term of their office, and perhaps even some years after they leave Congress.

However, I wonder if that goes far enough. Must we also require the member’s spouse and children also put their stocks, bonds, and real estate holdings in a blind trust as well? What about the cousins of the Member of Congress? Also, the best friend they have known since childhood, and grew up with?

I doubt you could write a set of laws that would take into account all the various ways that Members of Congress could benefit friends and family from the special information a Member of Congress gets.

Better to give a Congressional Ethics Agency real investigative power, and at least the power to convene Grand Juries to recommend prosecution by the Depart of Justice. Have that Agency work with the Internal Revenue Service, and you have created a mechanism with enough flexibility to go as far as it requires to determine if a Member of Congress has violated the fiduciary trust put in their hands by the voters.