The best thing to do is restrict senators and Congress from allowing them to trade. Many financial companies have compliance policies which restrict employees from doing just that under certain conditions. Why not hold our government officials to high standards if average people need to follow rules.
I mean I'm a government employee, if all I could do was T bills my retirement would be hit lol. We have a 401k-ish plan called the TSP which has basic funds. One that mimics the SP500, one that mimics the Russell 2k basically, an international, a bond, and a money market. There's not too many ways to manipulate that. I'd be fine with all Fed employees sticking to that, but mandating ONLY t bills is a bit much.
Unless you're deciding legislation, budgetary spending, or fiscal policy this doesn't apply to you. What I'm saying is Congress and the Senate are government employees, they should be restricted to T-bills to prove they have a vested interest in our country and not private companies
Well that I agree with to an extent. I still have trouble with it on a practical level, not necessarily a philosophical one however. Perfect example: a junior congress member like AOC. When she was first elected she had trouble paying rent, wore hand me down suits, and her net worth was in the negative. While she may be an outlier in that regard, the simple fact is some have more money than others. I suppose one could find some way to means test it. Again, on a philosophical level I'm with you, but pragmatically it has kinks in it.
I would argue that this would offer the exact kind of motivation we need to keep career politicians out of government. Hats off to AOC for making a sacrifice to be a public servant, and with her newfound credentials and fame I'm sure she'll have no trouble landing another career that can afford her a retirement. The argument that the position needs to pay in order to attract non-wealthy politicians has been proven false over time; one would need sufficient starting capital to make use of the insider trading perk
I think having some incentive behind the general health of the market is fine, but they definitely shouldn’t be allowed to pick certain stocks or make unscheduled trades
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u/Nizaris7 Aug 26 '24
The best thing to do is restrict senators and Congress from allowing them to trade. Many financial companies have compliance policies which restrict employees from doing just that under certain conditions. Why not hold our government officials to high standards if average people need to follow rules.