Lawmakers could vote for infrastructure bill, then buy stock in a concrete firm.

    • EatYouWell@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      They have it backwards too. They’ll buy stock, then vote on the bill that’ll raise stock prices (or vice versa with shorts)

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      If you go broke on a minimum of $174k/y, you’re spending too much on luxuries and/or hush money anyway.

      • Dukeofdummies@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        Admittedly, there is no government housing for politicians, which means either buying renting in washington DC (not cheap) in addition to your home in your own state, or moving entirely to Washington DC for a position you may lose in 4 years.

        The entire job seems to be closed out to everyone but millionaires.

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Frankly we should get rid of career politicians. Serving in public office should be more like jury duty. Civil servants do the real legwork.

      I’d go even further, and say that we don’t need “representatives” anymore. We all own devices that allow us to communicate across the world instantly, we all could potentially have our say directly in matters that concern us. The issues with this are ultimately only technical, and thus could be overcome.

      Media has slagged off direct democracy many times (eg the Jack Black episode of the Mandalorian) but I truly believe that is what a real democracy would be. Yes, things like Brexit can happen when people get the chance to vote, but that only happened because of a sustained disinformation campaign - one that could not be maintained indefinitely for every issue under vote. If people had a chance to vote on how things are implemented and whether or not it was actually working these problems could be mitigated, and overall we would end up with a more functional and progressively better system for society.

  • agitatedpotato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    Yeah were not getting any movement on this until people like Pelosi are far removed from any role in the democrat party. They’re just gonna keep pointing and screaming at the big orange distraction because it’s a lot easier than making peoples lives better.

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      When it comes to making people’s lives better, Democrats did more last year alone then Republicans have in the last twenty years put together.

      • Walt J. Rimmer@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I agree with you. But it’s important to still point out and want to fix problems even in the “better party.” We can’t simply be accepting of “be less bad.” We need to always strive to improve. And weakening the connections between Wall Street and Washington is a big progressive goal that the old guard of Democrats have directly opposed.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Just the top three from last year:

          • prescription drug price controls, including insulin copay capped @ $35/month
          • health care subsidy for 13 million lower income Americans
          • 100K jobs in clean energy
      • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        If they vote for an infrastructure bill and then buy a stock, then you might even buy the stock before they do.

    • 520@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      Problem is, we don’t get any forewarning about how they’re gonna vote.

      • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        The example was about someone who votes for an infrastructure bill and then buys a stock. Votes are public, so you could buy the stock at the same time they do.

        • 520@kbin.social
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          11 months ago

          The problem there is that automated traders have the same idea - and are a shit ton faster than you. So by the time you’ve so much as heard of it, the price is already up 25%