Would that be a median salary of their state or the country?
“Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022…” FYI ‘Real’ in this context means after adjustment for inflation. Senators and House Representatives are given a $174,000 salary. The percentage difference between $174,000 and $74,580 is approximately 133.4%. In other words, $174,000 is about 133.4% higher than $74,580.
Ultimately, it would be Congress to determine (since they hold the “country’s purse strings,”) how much salary they are paid. The US president has the final say if it passes or doesn’t.
Index funds, yes of course. Individual stocks, absolutely not. They have way too much power and control and too little oversight to not abuse their positions of authority.
Absolutely, but they should be beholden to the same rules as those impressed by banks to those who work in the financial sector. They should have to provide intent in advance of the buy or sell by 30 days, get approval from an ethics comittee before they make the exchange, and have steep penalties if they do not follow this. Only step I’d add is this event should be publicly available, but that would make it much harder to implement.
It’s not rocket science to make a working system for this, they just don’t want a working system.
Nah, since even pre announced ownership still gives them an incentive to enact policies that favor that stock.
And with bills taking months to advance, 30 days isn’t that much of a buffer.
Outlaw owning or trading individual stocks for politicians. They can put their noncompliant assets into a blind trust, and still own and trade in funds under the rules you specified.
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