Hacker News Reader

Comment by jmoak3 | Hacker News Reader

Many engineers reading this make a larger salary than these lawmakers.

Maybe if the people deciding our laws made enough to not be woo’d by practically a $300 gift card we’d at least make corruption more expensive.

View on HN

Not taken into account that if they're not a millionaire when they enter congress, they tend to be by the time they leave.

Because it's not insider trading if you're a congressman. It's total crap.

Yeah, though the actual pay isn't always enough to easily afford a home in your home state and a place in DC for those who aren't already rich.

That's a fair point - DC property is so expensive, there's a sort of Democratic senator "frat house":

https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/04/politics/real-alpha-house/ind...

High wage didn't stop pharma from getting to doctors

I think Bill Burr has a joke about how congress members are all making ~150k but somehow are multi-millionaires.

Why should lawmakers get rich at all? It's a public service and honor to hold that power -- an above average wage should be plenty reward (not to mention the millions of discretional fund most high profile offices come with).

Maybe should be an honor, but it certainly isn't treated as such by near anyone.

And it's not about why should they get rich. It's about aligning incentives. Relying on good will does not work long term.

Neither does normalizing corruption.

I don't want you to be left with the sense that I'm arguing for corruption. This thread is social commentary on how pathetic it is that elected reps can be bought for so little.

Sometimes, humor is hard on the internet.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com