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Comment on It's great to see a politician that's progressive and Not a Millionaire.

I have 0.000000% issue with elected officials at the federal level having investments in the stock market.

So long as it’s done in a way that can reasonably guarantee they aren’t manipulating the market, doing insider trading, etc. This includes things like investing in mutual funds (with caveats obviously) amongst other options from publicly accessible financial services firm.

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ilinamorato@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I am pretty confident there’s no such guarantee. Source: the last 250 years of American politics.

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- InvalidName2@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I am pretty confident that there’s no way you read “reasonably guarantee” and understood it correctly.
  
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  - ilinamorato@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I absolutely did. There’s no way to reasonably guarantee that the people who are making laws that affect companies and individuals aren’t using that power for their own enrichment.
    
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Duamerthrax@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
They made Jimmy Carter give up his peanut farm.

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- BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Nobody made him, he felt it was the ethical thing to do. He gave the money to a third party to invest, and they botched it. When he left the presidency, he found out he was nearly bankrupt.
  
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birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
No, I disagree. Elected officials shouldn’t have investments in stocks at all, period. Nor should they be multimillionnaires or richer.

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- InvalidName2@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Fascinating. How do you envision that working? And what do you currently do to support this being a possibility?
  
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  - birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    A public system of all finances of everyone, as is done in some northern countries. Full transparency, so it can be seen who donated to whom. Additionally, no crypto must be owned. No ties to shell companies, no offshore nonsense.
    
    In many countries, it is mandatory to sell your stock and give up bonuses before taking up the job if there is a conflict of interest.
    
    I’d add that whoever earns a combined income higher than 9x the yearly salary of the lowest-paid labourer in their country, must be disposed of all that. Income must be tied to buying power.
    
    But, if you ask me, I’m of the opinion that there are better measures to be taken.
    
    What is given up should be held and owned by an independent worker’s cooperative fund, that will focus on the community’s wellbeing.
    
    I myself joined a trade union, and have thought about setting up an anti-capitalist financial institution. If the Israeli could buy up Palestine, then us labourers also can buy up capitalism and defeat it by itself. We must however also defend our public wellbeing. And that means we must set up our own:
    
    Farms
    
    Industry
    
    Defence
    
    Economy
    
    Services
    
    I firmly feel that we must establish our own mutual aid. When we no longer depend on capitalism and are secure, we have sown the roots for our independence from the oligarchs that form CEOs, landlords and private insurers.
    
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    InvalidName2@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I’m honestly at a loss on how to even begin with a response. I suppose I should have added qualifiers to my statements like “realistic” and “practical”, so the fault there was definitely mine. I thought there was a chance we could have an honest and reasonable discussion, but no worries. You do you!
    
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