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Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

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Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#101

Post by mythrwy »

TheDong wrote: post #14
Bostonian wrote: post #2

As I've said before, publish the trades of politicians and Fed officials online every evening. If they make hundreds of millions trading on information the public is unaware of, disseminate that information quickly. Politicians say things they know are untrue, but they will trade in what they perceive to be their interests. "Some of the most egregious stock trading in Congress occurred when several Senators dumped la…

I've got a slight improvement to your idea. Instead of publishing the trades after, or as they make them, instead publish them before they make them. Require any congress-person who wishes to trade a stock to write a plan saying "I will buy/sell roughly this many dollars worth of these shares on this date", and require the plan to be published a week before the trade is executed. We already require CEOs and company o…

This is the best idea yet in my opinion.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#102

Post by krapp »

User23 wrote: post #97
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

I suggest that you spend some time at certain popular bars inside the beltway where you can hear drunk staffers flapping their lips. You will quickly learn that our elected representatives have virtually no responsibility whatsoever beyond maintaining the charade that the USA is in any way a democracy. The schoolhouse rock look at me I’m a bill thing isn’t even wrong anymore. There’s not a single “legislator” who act…

>I suggest that you spend some time at certain popular bars inside the beltway where you can hear drunk staffers flapping their lips. You will quickly learn that our elected representatives have virtually no responsibility whatsoever beyond maintaining the charade that the USA is in any way a democracy.

As you seem to be a beltway insider with connections, and not just making up bullshit to sound cool, which bars specifically would you suggest?

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#103

Post by DantesKite »

belter wrote: post #63
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

It has been proven multiple times, that already very well paid company managers, will accept bribes for small amounts of money and petty motives. Integrity is not connected to how well someone is paid. Reckless behavior for minor motives that makes people risk careers of years, family responsibilities, seems the norm for some individuals. I collect these cases, as they fascinate me on what they say about human nature…

A fairer framing would be, “Does increasing salaries of politicians decrease corruption, increase it, or make no difference whatsoever due to other factors?”

I suspect it helps more than it hurts since it seems to be a successful policy in Singapore. I’m skeptical decreasing the salaries would help because competent people would work elsewhere.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#104

Post by peteradio »

belter wrote: post #63
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

It has been proven multiple times, that already very well paid company managers, will accept bribes for small amounts of money and petty motives. Integrity is not connected to how well someone is paid. Reckless behavior for minor motives that makes people risk careers of years, family responsibilities, seems the norm for some individuals. I collect these cases, as they fascinate me on what they say about human nature…

I would say I've found myself abutting roles that I was uncomfortable to take due to risk aversion. I don't have debts to pay either. Sometimes you want a motivated person, sometimes you want a you-name-it.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#105

Post by belter »

DantesKite wrote: post #103
belter wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has been proven multiple times, that already very well paid company managers, will accept bribes for small amounts of money and petty motives. Integrity is not connected to how well someone is paid. Reckless behavior for minor motives that makes people risk careers of years, family responsibilities, seems the norm for some individuals. I collect these cases, as they fascinate me on what they say about human nature…

A fairer framing would be, “Does increasing salaries of politicians decrease corruption, increase it, or make no difference whatsoever due to other factors?” I suspect it helps more than it hurts since it seems to be a successful policy in Singapore. I’m skeptical decreasing the salaries would help because competent people would work elsewhere.

Denmark and New Zealand are perceived as some of the least corrupt nations, at least in perception, and politicians do not earn anything close to US politicians.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#106

Post by Nursie »

Tenoke wrote: post #51
jmann99999 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with this assessment is that it will never be enough. There is always more to make. For you. For your partner. For your kids. Many of us here are in software development and make more than $174K a year. That's great. However, even if we were paid $225K, but found an easy way to make $3 million a year, many of us would be tempted to go for the millions.

That's not how markets typically work. There are million dollar jobs in software, we are just not good enough to get them but some people are. If congress' salaries were higher more of those people who currently have better paid opportunities would compete with them rather than having the same quality people but just better paid.

> There are million dollar jobs in software, we are just not good enough to ...

Or we didn't hear about them, or the candidate was chosen via networking rather than advertising. There are a million reasons that this is not a perfect market.

My experience in fintech has taught me that people working for more money are not necessarily any better at their jobs, in fact a lot of them are worse, they just happen to know the right people.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#107

Post by imnotlost »

pm90 wrote: post #65
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

Agreed. A salary that would allow them a decent quality of life while having to maintain at least 2 residences (DC and their home district) is absolutely required. Money is deferred time: we want politicians to focus fully on serving the people not trying to balance their household budgets. The cheaters are going to cheat anyways. The politicians who are inclined to do the right thing: let’s make it easier for them.

How about public housing in DC for congress critters and senators? Windowless dorm rooms so they're tempted to go outside and do stuff instead of sitting inside watching tweets or whatever.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#108

Post by ShamelessC »

pm90 wrote: post #72
ShamelessC wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, lots of kids want to become president which at a certain age is basically code for "I want to be a political leader and don't know how the system works in its entirety". Does that not qualify?

Not really. Presidential aspirants are more about personal glory than serving people. It’s the people who like to serve the public that should ideally be involved in politics.

My point was that the desires of children are largely inconsequential to their future careers, particularly when being asked questions like "what do you want to be when you grow up".

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#109

Post by R0b0t1 »

jmann99999 wrote: post #45
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

The problem with this assessment is that it will never be enough. There is always more to make. For you. For your partner. For your kids. Many of us here are in software development and make more than $174K a year. That's great. However, even if we were paid $225K, but found an easy way to make $3 million a year, many of us would be tempted to go for the millions.

Many of us is an overstatement. The jobs threads are always full of people making way less, have you not seen?

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#110

Post by Tenoke »

Nursie wrote: post #106
Tenoke wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how markets typically work. There are million dollar jobs in software, we are just not good enough to get them but some people are. If congress' salaries were higher more of those people who currently have better paid opportunities would compete with them rather than having the same quality people but just better paid.

> There are million dollar jobs in software, we are just not good enough to ... Or we didn't hear about them, or the candidate was chosen via networking rather than advertising. There are a million reasons that this is not a perfect market. My experience in fintech has taught me that people working for more money are not necessarily any better at their jobs, in fact a lot of them are worse, they just happen to know t…

It's not a perfect correlation but it's certainly easier to find better candidates if you can offer them more than they'd get elsewhere.
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