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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

#131

Post by ergocoder »

paxys wrote: post #88
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…

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…

Doesn't seem hard.

Let's make it fairer and attractive.

We can start with $1m.

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

#132

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

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…

I’m sure some million dollar software jobs get given out to connected idiots, but I don’t think it’s most of them. When I’ve worked with those kinds of people (high level engineers at top companies), they tend to be very skilled.

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

#133

Post by ALittleLight »

jrockway wrote: post #128
MomoXenosaga wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heavily disagree. We are already in a situation were poor people don't even fucking bother to vote anymore because none of the politicians live on the same planet as they do. None of these millionaire douchebags are relatable at this point.

I think the problem is that if we don't pay them, someone else will. And the "someone else" always attaches strings.

Nancy Pelosi, as an example off the top of my head, has a net worth of 100 million dollars. How much more should we pay her to stop stealing via insider trading?

In my view there should just be a law that says congresspeople can't have their net worth increase by more than their after tax salary period. Then, when we find one of them doing corrupt things we should send them to prison.

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

#134

Post by novok »

krapp wrote: post #102
User23 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 spe…

Like most business district bars, you would go to the bars close to where they work after work hours for 'happy hour', sit and listen. Not much special research required.

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

#135

Post by zw123456 »

ryan_lane wrote: post #73
zw123456 wrote: post #21

CEO's and officers of corporations have to disclose their trades of their company stock. It is only fair that the public officials making the laws that govern the operations of said corporations should have to disclose all their stock activities as well, since almost any law they pass could potentially impact almost any company.

CEOs and officers don't just have to disclose their trades, they have to trade on schedules.

Exactly. The same rules should apply, except for CEO's it's just their company they have to disclose ahead of time because their decisions affect that company, for congress it should be any company they trade because their decisions are more far reaching and can affect almost any company.

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

#136

Post by [deleted] »

vineyardmike wrote: post #80
IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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%.…

> If they cant make ends meet with their basic salary, they dont know sacrifice. If they dont know sacrifice shouldn't be running for office. This is how you get bad candidates. > If they dont know sacrifice shouldn't be running for office. The poster might like AOC then. But something tells me they're not a supporter. > Stop paying for busy bodies and start electing hardworking, everyday americans TBH not sure i tru…

[deleted]

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

#137

Post by Supermancho »

vineyardmike wrote: post #80
IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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%.…

> If they cant make ends meet with their basic salary, they dont know sacrifice. If they dont know sacrifice shouldn't be running for office. This is how you get bad candidates. > If they dont know sacrifice shouldn't be running for office. The poster might like AOC then. But something tells me they're not a supporter. > Stop paying for busy bodies and start electing hardworking, everyday americans TBH not sure i tru…

> This is how you get bad candidates.

As per the known representative systems, there are countless ways to end up with bad candidates. I don't find this simplistic answer compelling. Notably, Plato (ie The Republic) suggested a relatively pious existence, to combat corruption.

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

#138

Post by TheRealNGenius »

ergocoder wrote: post #131
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…

Doesn't seem hard. Let's make it fairer and attractive. We can start with $1m.

If that was the starting salary for a congressman, then forget about FAANG jobs, I'm just gonna be a congressman.

Edit: And I'll still day trade, what are you gonna do to stop me?

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

#139

Post by ergocoder »

TheRealNGenius wrote: post #138
ergocoder wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't seem hard. Let's make it fairer and attractive. We can start with $1m.

If that was the starting salary for a congressman, then forget about FAANG jobs, I'm just gonna be a congressman. Edit: And I'll still day trade, what are you gonna do to stop me?

Yes, please do. We need more competition in being congressman.

I even think president should be paid like 40m a year.

Stopping day trading is an orthogonal goal. I never see these two coupled together.

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

#140

Post by Fezzik »

paxys wrote: post #93
Rd6n6 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They really aren't. You are implying that highly paid people are automatically more honest, but reality often shows the opposite. There are unlimited opportunities for corruption in these roles, and whether someone decides to act on it or not isn't dependent on them making $125K vs $250K in salary.

Agreed. I’d be surprised if money moved the ethics needle at all - ethical people are ethical, unethical people are unethical. The notion that one day someone unethical wakes up with an extra $100k/year (or $1 million) and all of a sudden realizes their past transgressions were wrong and they will henceforth be an upstanding citizen seems ludicrous to me. I’d also be shocked if there was any evidence to support the notion that higher pay attracts more ethical people. Bernie Sanders is going to be Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump is going to be Donald Trump regardless of their respective net-worths or paychecks. I’m struggling to think of anyone I have ever met, or from pop culture, who became more ethical as their wages increased.
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