Let’s make this the rule for all politicians
Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
51–60 of 232 posts
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#52The relatively low salaries compared to the huge amounts of power is almost begging for insider trading, influence peddling, etc. > The salary of a Congress member varies based on the job title of the congressman or senator. Most senators, representatives, delegates and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico make a salary of $174,000 per year. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/congressman-... Then a…
This is about the Fed banning it's own policymakers from owning them, not about congress.
Correct, the article has zero mentions of congress
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, the other day this really hit home for me. I don't know why I hadn't previously thought about it in such clear terms. Being a congressperson has to be one of the most morally hazardous occupations in the world. I mean, you have more direct control over how our entire society works than almost anyone else. So you become the perfect target for bribery and gain access to countless levers that you could pull in you…
Singapore does a good job of matching public servant pay to private sector pay for that exact reason. They go so far as to index government pay scales to private sector pay. The entire intent is to attract very talented people that want to do a good job. Having access to the levers of power is much less of an incentive as a (theoretical) result.
Yeah, that all seems like a great idea. I'm sure Singapore has its issues, but sometimes I think it's funny how logically other countries seem to approach their problems. It's almost as though they actually want to solve them. In the mean time, in the US, we can't have nice things because reasons. It's sort of like how Japan has toilets with warmed seats. In the US, we don't have that because...honestly I have no idea; it's a great idea that we're simply missing out on.
P.S. To be fair, I think part of the reason Japan has this is that a lot of homes lack house-wide heating systems. They have things like kotatsus (heated tables) or space heaters. So it actually gets really cold in the winter. Having a warm toilet seat then seems like more of a necessity. But still...can't we just have warm toilet seats?
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#54The relatively low salaries compared to the huge amounts of power is almost begging for insider trading, influence peddling, etc. > The salary of a Congress member varies based on the job title of the congressman or senator. Most senators, representatives, delegates and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico make a salary of $174,000 per year. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/congressman-... Then a…
I wonder is this is intentionally set to match the top level of the GS (civil service) pay scale in the DC area.
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the case all over the Western world. Federal Government politician salaries need to be 10x higher.
Sometimes I feel like congress and representatives should make the minimum wage of the area they represent. Might encourage them to actually improve things for the people.
It's a good way to only get the rich to become federal politicians.
Congress gets paid like 174k a year. Sure, it's a lot of money compared to the US median, but anyone who can get elected to Congress can earn that elsewhere.
For tech, 174k isn't even a big salary; we're talking an industry where a starting SE salary at a FAANG is around there. That's not a huge paycheck for a 24/7 job like federal politics.
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#56The relatively low salaries compared to the huge amounts of power is almost begging for insider trading, influence peddling, etc. > The salary of a Congress member varies based on the job title of the congressman or senator. Most senators, representatives, delegates and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico make a salary of $174,000 per year. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/congressman-... Then a…
just to expand, indeed their salaries are relative average. But, their benefits package both during and after tenure is generous.
Their package include health & life insurance outside the general public market, social security, FERS, CSRS, personnel & office and mail allowances, office space, furniture, office equipment, food, laundry, and much more.
It will definitely not make them millionaires, but will allow them to live an upper echelon life; compared to some of us, even luxurious life.
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#57The relatively low salaries compared to the huge amounts of power is almost begging for insider trading, influence peddling, etc. > The salary of a Congress member varies based on the job title of the congressman or senator. Most senators, representatives, delegates and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico make a salary of $174,000 per year. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/congressman-... Then a…
This is the case all over the Western world. Federal Government politician salaries need to be 10x higher.
Mr. Senator, is that you?
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#58Does anyone think the SEC will take similar actions against elected officials? Given there have been plenty of stories about this happening it seems like it should be up for consideration.
Even if they could ban them, it probably wouldn't curb their behavior. It's trivial to obscure trades.
A better approach, IMHO, is to make their trades available to the public as quickly as possible, and force brokers to mandate trading grace periods for elected officials. At least then, the public has a chance to get in on the action. So if a corrupt-ass senator on the house foreign intelligence committee buys up some pharma companies after a closed door briefing, r/WSB will have a chance to get in on the action first.
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the case all over the Western world. Federal Government politician salaries need to be 10x higher.
Sometimes I feel like congress and representatives should make the minimum wage of the area they represent. Might encourage them to actually improve things for the people.
> Might encourage them to actually improve things for the people.
The history of unpaid and low-paid legislatures (of which there is quite a lot) does not really support this idea.
Re: Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks
#60Does this just mean that stock will now all be held in their spouse's name? I didn't see any provision for that in the article.
Disclosure responsibilities for Federal judges extend to spouses and any family living in the home IIRC, I would imagine this restriction would have similar coverage.