Incorrect title, the finding is "lawmakers who later ascend to leadership positions perform similarly to matched peers beforehand but outperform them by 47 percentage points annually after ascension." This is saying that people in congressional leadership positions do 47% better than other members of Congress.
It must be just down to the fact that they're so intelligent and tuned into the world that they know where to invest. Nothing to see here folks, move along now.
I would say jokes aside but the political system promotes this corruption.
Its funny -- out of all the corruption you see from Washington this one seems the most benign. For whatever reason this one gets almost the most constant press. Maybe because its the easiest to fix but isn't.
Despite Congress' general dysfunction, this seems like a problem that could feasibly be solved. It would make most Congressmen of both parties look good to pass a bill that e.g. restricted sitting members to index funds/mutual funds/etc.
I think the solution is to pay them more, create very strict laws around insider trading, and enforce those laws vigorously.
I don't know if that's realistic or not as the electorate has already shown they don't care enough to vote their representatives out for doing it and it's unlikely that current members would restrict their earnings. I guess it's good that we know about it, at least.
Every single one of these scoundrels will stand up at a college graduation and exhort the virtues of public service and sacrifice for country. But somehow they all manage to get rich in the midst of their own service and sacrifice.
They shouldn't be allowed to trade stocks. When you do so, corruption is inevitable. It should be an expected price of public service that you remove yourself from most other ambitions.
I'd hope that if they were required to live off of their (rapidly depreciating) savings and income, like most Americans, they might consider some of their legislative choices differently.
Can I find one of these people in congressional leadership positions, who is willing to accept a sizeable campaign contribution in exchange for joining their mailing list which contains their list of stock purchases in real time?
Or is that one of those, "Of course that exists, but if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it" kind of things?
Just to be fair, they compare every congressperson who becomes a leader with a “regular” (non-leader) congressperson who entered Congress in the same year and is from the same political party. Alternative view: people who becomes leaders are just more capable and better at selecting stocks?
Politicians shouldn't be allowed to own private property. Only the people that really, really want to see a better future for their country will get involved in politics. This isn't my idea by the way, it's Plato's.
Right now the people entering politics are people who just want more money. They don't care about anything or anyone else. The sooner Americans realize this the better off we'll be.
The one thing that stirs the hearts and minds of the American people is a 67 page deep dive statistical analysis of an issue.
If only Congress and Americans had access to more figures and math, then we would do the right thing. This paper is going to change things. We finally did it.
Indeed the very foundational idea of Republican system ("no titles of nobility") makes this inevitable.
It doesn't happen on similar scale in Europe simply because our stocks are shit and can't be profited much in any case, politicians just make money on bribes and kickbacks.
Look, I have my political views, but this is why the whole divide and conquer thing is 100% true. As long as we, whether left or right, allow our entire mind and emotions to be warped and subverted by those in power, we will never effect change and unite against this kind of corruption, which none of us stand for.
It doesn't require us to change our views on areas where we don't agree. It simply requires uniting on the numerous areas where there is common ground.
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of this.
Your average Joe does this and gets ripped away from his family for 10-years. Politicians do it and it gives them job security.
The two-party system amounts to two wings on the same bird. While we're fighting about left vs. right, we're soon going to find ourselves in a new system of lords vs. peasants.
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[ 5.9 ms ] story [ 84.0 ms ] threadI would say jokes aside but the political system promotes this corruption.
I don't know if that's realistic or not as the electorate has already shown they don't care enough to vote their representatives out for doing it and it's unlikely that current members would restrict their earnings. I guess it's good that we know about it, at least.
By having lawmakers as peers, you’d have a natural feel for what laws have momentum, who would benefit, etc.
I’m not ruling out corruption, just that assuming malicious intent often masks underlying dynamics.
They shouldn't be allowed to trade stocks. When you do so, corruption is inevitable. It should be an expected price of public service that you remove yourself from most other ambitions.
I'd hope that if they were required to live off of their (rapidly depreciating) savings and income, like most Americans, they might consider some of their legislative choices differently.
Or is that one of those, "Of course that exists, but if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it" kind of things?
Right now the people entering politics are people who just want more money. They don't care about anything or anyone else. The sooner Americans realize this the better off we'll be.
If only Congress and Americans had access to more figures and math, then we would do the right thing. This paper is going to change things. We finally did it.
It doesn't require us to change our views on areas where we don't agree. It simply requires uniting on the numerous areas where there is common ground.
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of this.
Your average Joe does this and gets ripped away from his family for 10-years. Politicians do it and it gives them job security.
The two-party system amounts to two wings on the same bird. While we're fighting about left vs. right, we're soon going to find ourselves in a new system of lords vs. peasants.