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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

#111

Post by wmeredith »

revscat wrote: post #22

We will see a black hole evaporate via Hawking radiation before a bill such as this becomes law. The United States Senate is the body representing the capitalists/landed gentry/aristocracy/etc., and from my amateur reading of US history it always has been. The House is only slightly better. There may be politically powerful voices which speak out on issues such as these, but only briefly. Tomorrow will be a new crisi…

> We will see a black hole evaporate via Hawking radiation before a bill such as this becomes law.

This is the content I'm here for. Well done LOL

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

#112

Post by sethd »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #71
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…

No. Hell no. Elected office is a sacrifice and a duty. It is not a way to make a living. Thats how you end up with dinosaurs working those halls for 68 years. I have a better idea. 1)Fix salary at 2x poverty wage. 2) make house members 1:50,000 representation to their county (yes that means the house would explode to 8000 elected officials) 3) tax any earnings above their pre-office historical income avg, at say 98%.…

> make house members 1:50,000 representation to their county (yes that means the house would explode to 8000 elected officials)

I disagree with rest, but something along these lines does seem like a good solution.

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

#114

Post by ryandrake »

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.

I've seen Senior Engineers who probably make $300K+ steal and bring home whole pizza pies from "Pizza Night For Late Workers". It doesn't matter how much you make, if they are fundamentally dishonest and see $100 sitting on the floor they're going to take it.

EDIT: Correction--engineers, didn't actually see managers do it.

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

#115

Post by mohanmcgeek »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #50
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.

Many state governments don't pay much or anything at all to their state legislators. Which is a great way to make sure that only rich well connected people can afford to serve.

Is being a legislator a full time job in the US? As in, you are legally not allowed to also have another job?

(It isn't in my country. You can be a pilot, an actor or an engineer and still be a legislator)

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

#116

Post by vineyardmike »

csee wrote: post #94
vineyardmike wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

based on what metric? Do we know have evidence of them voting for their own portfolio vs trading their info? Based on data i've seen, it seems more likely that they're insider trading. (Except for republicans trying to support fossil fuel legislation...)

It is far more likely that they're insider trading, but the point is that the magnitude of the negative consequence is vastly different. If they insider trade and make $5 million, that's money stolen from other market participants. Bad, for sure, but the scope of the damage is limited to that stolen $5 million. If it corrupts policymaking by creating a conflict of interest, the scope of damage is uncapped.

I completely agree! The legislative capture of bad decisions is far more dangerous than them "stealing" from wallstreet.

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

#117

Post by UIUC_06 »

All the discussion about how much Senators and Representatives should be paid and whether it leads to bribery misses the most important moral point, which is:

They are in a position to influence stocks, and hence must be barred from owning them, other than in a blind trust.

It's the same moral principle as "Judges must recuse themselves from cases in which they have a financial interest."

We want them to vote on regulating Big Tech based on their understanding of the issues and their constituents' desires, not on their holdings of Big Tech stocks. Yes, I know that's naïve and there are campaign contributions to think of, but that's a separate topic of law.

Discussing whether they get "enough" to live on also misses the fact that they're not doing it for living expenses -- they're doing it to get rich.

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

#118

Post by mohanmcgeek »

Rd6n6 wrote: post #91
paxys wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much is fair compensation for a Congressperson? $250K? $500K? $1M? Why not even more? They certainly have a lot more power and responsibility than a CEO or sports coach who is paid many times that. The problem is that there isn't a free market which any politician's salary can be determined by. Someone can't decide they don't like the salary in the US Senate and apply to the Canadian Parliament instead. Plus, the…

Very high salaries are a countermeasure against conflicts of interest and “lobbying.” We can trust our leaders better if we don’t have to worry quite as much about other parties tempting them

I don't see how increasing the salary of a politician would prevent them from taking money for their _campaign_ given campaigns spend millions of dollars and not $174k

This whole salary debate is pointless when there is a "cost of staying in power"

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

#119

Post by systemvoltage »

ryandrake wrote: post #114
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.

I've seen Senior Engineers who probably make $300K+ steal and bring home whole pizza pies from "Pizza Night For Late Workers". It doesn't matter how much you make, if they are fundamentally dishonest and see $100 sitting on the floor they're going to take it. EDIT: Correction--engineers, didn't actually see managers do it.

This is bizarre. I’ve had managers that used to bring donuts on their own dime for the whole team. Are you sure they’re stealing or just taking home a left over pizza?

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

#120

Post by throwoutway »

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’d be in favor of allowing them to put their money in blind trusts and withdraw them tax free after 10 years. It would encourage them to adopt measures that help the nation gain long term advantages, not short term
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