system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: If insider trading is illegal for employees of corporations, why are US Congress members allowed to use the stock exchange to monetarily benefit from information that is not publicly available?
gpt
Contrary to popular belief, insider trading isn't illegal because it's unfair. For instance, if you obtain inside information in some legitimate way (maybe you overhear a CEO talking about his company in a restaurant), you're allowed to trade on it.

Insider trading is illegal because, if you work for a company, the information you get is supposed to help the shareholders get money. Insider trading means that you're taking advantage of your private knowledge to take money from those shareholders, which is a conflict of interest.