House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading – report

Post by brianwawok » Fri, Jul 29, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #345

brianwawok wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lawmaker pay is a rounding error. Clearly we can't pay lawmakers $0 and expert high effort + no corruption. is there any proof of any way that saying pay from 170k a year to ??? 1 million USD? a year would have any impact on the problems? Do countries with less corrupt lawmakers pay more than the US? I doubt that...

Another commenter here claimed that in Singapore, they pay 3x the national median salary. Singapore is not my cup of tea government-wise, but they are viewed as one of the least corrupt governments in the world. Certainly that's not solely due to how they are paid, but I'm sure it factors in.

Post by techdragon » Fri, Jul 29, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

eloff wrote: post #368

techdragon wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless Citizens United is overturned, this would take a constitutional amendment, "money is speech" per that Supreme Court verdict and so... > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. So t…

Yeah, I don't like your odds here. Your politicians can barely agree on a budget these days. Constitutional amendments seem like a thing of the past now. But it's likely the only good solution here, and on other issues too, like abortion.

Post by brianwawok » Fri, Jul 29, 2022, 7:33 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #372

brianwawok wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Median salary in the US is 67k. 3 of that is a rounding error from what our reps are currently paid. Not sure what that argument is going?

> Median salary in the US is 67k. No, it's not. Median household income is about $67k. Median salary (or, at least “median annual earnings for workers who worked full time”) is about $56k.

Post by tremon » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 2:23 PM UTC

undersuit wrote: post #348

JamesBarney wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we should pay them more. I just think getting better candidates would be much more influential than the reduction in corruption. Most corruption isn't someone dropping off a bag of money. It's an organization donating a bunch of money so they can put somebody intelligent charming and attractive in front of the senator who is going to have a really good argument why certain provisions are good for their consti…

I think we should pay all of our politicians more. Some state politicians are essentially volunteer positions. How are we supposed to get younger candidates into politics if you need to be not reliant on an external job that may not approve of your political activities?

Post by fuckboii » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 6:28 AM UTC

TameAntelope wrote: post #291

cwkoss wrote: post #179

Our political parties are failing us so badly, I wouldn't be surprised if the guillotine came back into fashion over the next decade. I hope congress can get its act together and serve its constituents better before it comes to that, but it feels naive.

Ahaha I always love the calls for political violence in the US, because we've experienced so little (relative to other parts of the world). Honestly it shows how well off we've been these last decades to have the luxury to call for someone else to kill a politician for us because we're upset. You have no concept of the injustice that would arise if "the people" begin murdering politicians in the street again. So many…