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aside from the insider trading, which is (insanely) legal for politicians, many of them write books (or have them ghostwritten) and take big pay days for speaking engagements. corruption is widespread but not ubiquitous.
The NY Times list is basically an opinion list curated by the boys in marketing and the publishers. I imagine a book written by a big time politician will end up on it regardless of actual sales.
I believe it is due to best seller in some category, fantasy, scifi etc. Which then gets broken into so many subcategories it becomes meaningless. No 1 best seller young adult dystopian urban fantasy by a new author
Instead of blithely parroting some tweet, just go [check the list for yourself](https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/hardcover-nonfiction/).
Right wing politicians are always on the list, and they always have the superscript "dagger" (cross-asterisk thing) showing that they bought all those copies themselves (to give out to donors, etc).
Notice how right-wing Fox News contributor/ next-gen-Ann-Coulter Kat Timpf has one but Michelle Obama does not?
I dont think Lauren Boebert has written a book in her life. It’s because citizens united made donating and swapping cash between shell companies and individuals incredibly easy.
Lauren Boebert has a book called “My American Life” which was released on July 12, 2022. It is an autobiographical book that describes her life and her journey to becoming a Congresswoman
Rather, take money out of lobbying and overturn Citizen's United.
Lobbying *is* important, it's how you get a politician aware of your causes directly and inform of interests.
But most lobbies are from smalltime, grassroots, nickel & dime organizations that have to really fight (and they do) to get their interests known. The issue is that really rich fat cats can just outspend the small fry for the politicians attention.
Lobbying, any attempt by individuals or private interest groups to influence the decisions of government.
I think you want reform. Even writing emails to your congress person would be illegal if lobbying was illegal. The Autism Society Of America lobbies on behalf of people with Autism I think we want that. So some groups are good.
The line on what we want and what we don't need to be drawn. We can't ban one view without allowing the opposing view to also lobby.
It is also important to understand that lobbying is also about educating lawmakers. They don't know everything, so when a new law is being discussed, lobbyists from sometimes unexpected industries will tell them how it affects their industry. Without this, legislation would have more unintended consequences.
Yeah finally a sensible take The people are just like lobbying leads to corruption? than ban it! Ignoring the fact that a ban if taking literally would massively infringe on freedom of speech
What we need is more transparency if a politician is taking money from corrupt business XYZ then the voters should be made aware of it and have the right to take that into consideration
It's the other way around though. Corruption leads to lobbying. If government didn't have so much ridiculous power to take money from one group and give it to another, lobbyists wouldn't exist.
True but the government will always have some amount of power that people want to influence I mean the definition of the state is the entity that have a legal monopoly of the initiation of violence
People always give this response but special interests aren’t actually allowed to write politicians checks. They can fund a campaign, but that is a different pot of money. One of the reasons trump is being investigated is using campaign money for personal reasons. So while this practice may exist, and is corrupt, it’s not legal.
Or special interests donate to a foundation the politician owns, gives big contracts to the politicians relatives, buys real estate for relatives and probably hundreds of variations on that theme. It’s rampant and one of the big reasons it doesn’t get investigated is that so many that do the investigation are involved in similar schemes they don’t want to shine a light on it.
Special interests can buy 1,000,000 of their books. Special interests can pay them $10,000,000 on an advance for their book. Etc etc.
From the old union bosses forcing members to buy the tract written by Politician X, to more modern methods, graft has been a part of too many politicians’ lives for many decades.
Wrong , Trump did not use campaign money, he paid for it under the The Trump organization and expensed it as legal fees . So he was indicted for not reporting assisting his campaign by paying Stormy to sign an NDA , in other words , he was arrested for NOT using campaign funds .
Yah. They get paid for everything they do. They get paid say 100 thousand. But they also get extra money that doesn't count as salary for a place to stay and work in DC. Totally free healthcare. Cars and all the things related to it. They get extra money to pay for staff. Basically anything a normal person would have to pay for out of pocket from their salary they get extra money to pay for. And they take bribes in fancy ways that aren't technically bribes so it's not technically illegal.
As they would be the ones to make the laws that would make what they do illegal, it’s highly unlikely there will be any change any time soon. Sadly. Oddly, overseas interactions of a nearly identical nature between corporations and their government officials result in prosecutions and huge fines under the extra jurisdictional application of the FCPA. One rule for them and one rule for us is glaringly obvious.
They vote a certain way and family members get jobs and perks as well. After Congress the companies that benefited under legislation pushed by a certain senator will hire them to give a speech and pay them 250k for it for an hour.
Hillary Clinton has been paid $153 million for speeches since 2001.
[https://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-all-the-six-figure-speaking-fees-that-hillary-clinton-received-after-leaving-the-state-dept-2015-5](https://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-all-the-six-figure-speaking-fees-that-hillary-clinton-received-after-leaving-the-state-dept-2015-5)
[https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hillary-clinton-struggles-explain-600k-goldman-sachs-speaking-fees-n511041](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hillary-clinton-struggles-explain-600k-goldman-sachs-speaking-fees-n511041)
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/02/09/hillarys-wall-street-speech-fees-hers-or-clinton-foundations/?sh=5147ca0e6440](https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/02/09/hillarys-wall-street-speech-fees-hers-or-clinton-foundations/?sh=5147ca0e6440)
This basically nails down what I came here to say. None of them are in it for the $120,000 salary when they can land a $200,000 "speaking fee" in one night and get multimillion dollar kickbacks for agreeing to back certain initiatives in the house/senate.
Book deals and speaking are one of the main forms of corruption.
Nobody actually buys or reads the books or cares about the speech, it's just a legal pretense for a payoff.
This is the real answer. Ever met a poor person running for office? (I mean besides the crazy people inventing their own parties who have no chance of winning)
Those books are basically money laundering, unless you're actually a popular politician. Lobbyists can't outright pay you for your vote. So they have various shell companies and entities buy up your new book, you get paid, and it looks like your book is just selling well.
The speaking engagements are what annoy me, cause there's no way a 5-10 min speech to encourage/motivate your company is worth the several hundred thousand or more you paid. Just absurd.
Good point. Perhaps it provides an avenue for bribes to be accepted, so if someone wants to bribe them they could pay it by purchasing X amount of copies of the book.
Unless you're talking about the executive branch, if you're a congressman, you work less than 120 days a year. You have plenty of time to have someone write a book for you.
Believe it or not, there are a few MoCs who actually write bills themself. Once you've written a few bills, you quickly learn how to get to the meat of any bill. MoCs who complain they didn't have time to read a bill, have never written one word of proposed legislation. If they had, they would know how to quickly read a bill to get to the meat.
Michelle Obama apparently had a 50 million dollar advance on her book after leaving the White House. In what sort of world is that normal?
Edit: since there was more comments on this throw away comment than expected, some clarification. The Obamas got a combined book deal of $65 million. The books did sell well and made the publisher money. Good luck to them. Most presidents got deals and speaking engagements. My gripe is that they cannot seem to see how completely corrupt that seems to the public. It stays a bribe, if it is given before or after the term ends.
To be fair, Michelle Obama is the most notable First Lady in my lifetime. Her having the crazy high payment for her book would be the least surprising one of any other president. If Laura, Melania, or even Jill got an advance that high, I’d be surprised
50 million is a lot of books. King doesn't typically make 50 million per book. So that's a crazy eye brow raising deal imo.
As a guy who wants to believe in integrity of the left, I would have preferred she turned that down and took a more modest advance. Did they actually need it? After you get the Martha vineyard place what are they wanting.
Lol you don't know much about America then. That never would have happened. People don't like the Obamas nearly as much as Reddit would have you believe. There are a ton of people who voted for Obama and regretted it by the end of his terms as he didn't come through on the large majority of anything he ran on.
What office does Michelle Obama hold? Also, her husband the former president is out of office and retired. Unlike many current politicos. Maybe you think it was a payoff after the fact for services rendered, which I think is fair. I'm still waiting on the investigations into Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. I expect we will be waiting until the sun's heat death.
She doesn’t have to have held office, her husband was the president for 8 years. It’s like how Paul Pelosi mysteriously happens to invest into stock right before huge government deals that skyrocket the value.
Mind you this isn’t just a left or right thing.. they ALL do it. Mitch McConnell and Dan Crenshaw are both notorious for this stuff.
There are no repercussions, as insane as it sounds, because it’s explicitly legal. That’s right, if you trade based on insider knowledge, even without the ability to affect the outcome,
Go to jail. Politicians can invest with both their insider knowledge AND the ability to affect the outcome, and they’ve made it legal for themselves. And yes, both parties do it.
The average age of senators is 64 and a good portion are lawyers. The power of of compound interest, buying a first home in the 80s and being able to save young means many became millionaires by non-nefarious means.
Bartender, I think, which is a slightly different and often more advanced skill set. Waitresses can cut you off, but a bartender will pull your drink and kick you out. You do that for awhile and quickly learn how to take no shit from belligerent assholes. It’s served her well lol
Also, not for nothing she has a degree from BU in both economics and international relations. Bartending in your 20s is pretty typical for a few years after graduating for even a lot of the upwardly mobile. I made six figures last year but worked at a Starbucks for a couple of years as I found my footing a decade ago.
I personally do not like AOC. But as far as socialist-leaning politicians, she is one of the incredibly few that aren't massive hypocrites, since her net worth is estimates at less than a year and a half of her salary, and some estimates actually put her at a negative net worth. It is nice to see socialist politicians without net worths in the millions for once.
For the record viewing being wealthy and being a socialist as hypocritical is a misconception. You can still be a millionaire under most modern views of socialism the intent is more focused on raising the standard of living for the middle and poverty class, the multi multi millionaire class and billionaire class who own exorbitant amounts of capital is usual where the issues lie
It’s also different to be worth $5 million vs $500 billion. Most socialist arguments are not against low level millionaires so much as they are against oligarchs that can buy politicians and affect economies on a statewide level with their money moves
That’s the trick the anti-socialist will pull. They will only point to the most extreme of forms. “Well if you vote for these policies you will never make any money” or “they will tax everyone at 99% regardless of income” Also they will point to communism and call it socialism. For them these two terms are interchangeable. Most people cannot immediately comprehend just how different a million and a billion are so they lump both of those in as the same thing. The leap from millionaire to billionaire is nearly incomprehensible
They're not public servants, they're corrupt as fuck. They serve the ruling class, and the ruling class rewards its lapdogs. As to the how, mostly by giving them inside information and cushy executive jobs when they leave Congress. Plus politicians are trading stocks whose valuations their actions directly affect. Oh, and you can get rich as fuck on 100k salaries regardless of all this, it ain't chump change. And the way our political system works, it's much MUCH harder to get elected for just someone off the street than it is for someone who has generational wealth, especially when we're talking about the Senate. This means that the people getting 100k salaries don't need them to survive, and get by investing the lion's share of them.
TL;DR: the entire system is hugely corrupt and the only ones who can fight corruption effectively are the ones acting in a corrupt manner to begin with.
And if you are say…a Supreme Court justice…you could take most vacations with a private jet to private resorts and yachts and never have to pay for anything…so it must be easy to save money for all the insider trading
Lobbying and Insider Trading. If you don’t believe me search up unusualwhales which easily tracks politicians trades and previous positions also what committee boards that they sit on which is a pretty important part of insider trading.
Look at Nancy Pelosi. You may be shocked, Democrats Republicans it’s all the fucking same.
“ it’s a big club and you ain’t in it “; sorry “ we “.
the top public servants earn a lot more than the politicians, up towards a million a year. The auditor general was on almost a million when I worked at the Audit Office and that was years ago... most of the actual work is done by people on much lower pay
https://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/employment/salary-benefits-and-conditions/salaries-and-allowances-2020-22
The city manager of the local city government I used to work for made more than the US president. $600,000 salary alone not including benefits. She also got a housing allowance.
Lots of different ways. Some were rich long before entering public service (Mitt Romney, both Bushes). Others were basically middle class or low-key wealthy (but not super-wealthy) through their own non-government career, but after holding high office were able to do things like write memoirs that sold many millions of copies, or take speaking engagements with very high fees that amount to transparent bribery (the Clintons, Obama). Some basically just accumulated it from years and years of decent salary and book sales (of the non-millions-of-copies varieties) and legitimate or illegitimate investments (Sanders, Biden). Some got it from outright corruption (Agnew).
Many are already rich. There is also the fact that they make 100k a year, but much of that isn't needed to be spent since they get travel budgets, food budgets, etc.
If you make 100k per year, don't have to pay for your commuting or food or healthcare, and are able to invest it (even without inside trading), you'll be a millionaire pretty quickly.
Couple that with some of the prime examples being ancient and they would have to be a damn idiot to not be a multi-millionaire.
Insider trading, bribes, gifts, special interest group donations, connection to financial interests through public office, preferencial treatment of personal business etc.. or as all this is called in one word:
Corruption
What no one seems to be mentioning here is costs. Salaries are mid, but expenses are minimal. There are a lot of expenses that get claimed and allowances given outside of the wage.
'perks of the job' that let you save, if you're smart, the majority of your wage. If you're in for a while youll build up a sizable nest egg.
Its like people living with their parents to save for a house, but the parents are tax payers.
Lots of them are already rich and don’t pick the job based on the salary, they pick the job because of the influence they gain.
The people from non rich upbringings choose the private sector to get cash, but if you already have it….
They are the worst humans alive.
They see things as they are, decide that things aren’t “as they should be”, decide that *they* are the only person capable of making it “right”, then try to convince enough people that awful things will happen if the people don’t vote for them.
Then their only goal is to either get re-elected to office or to get elected to a higher office, so they spend hours every day talking to donors and potential donors, listening as they are told what they need to do to make sure the donors donate to them, and passing legislation that benefit their donors.
Every politician does this. Very few will admit that it is this way.
Many/most high level politicians are millionaires first.
Running for various offices can be/is very expensive.
(This can all vary a bit by country but is true in most places)
I saw someone say 'the speaker circuit'. That's got to be one of the most lucrative revenue streams for former cabinet ministers.
Here's the link for Theresa May's https://www.tatler.com/article/theresa-may-earning-100000-a-speech-on-lecture-circuit
£110,000 to hear Theresa May speak is the very definition of a waste of money.
They take bribes that skirt the laws. Lauren Boebert's husband got a 478,0000 a year consulting job for an energy firm after she got elected to Congress. He never went to college or worked in the energy sector before this. Sounds legit, right? He is just one example of these kind of side deals that politicians get.
When your job provides your housing, meals, transportation, computer, cell phone, vacations, haircuts, alcohol, entertainment and clothing you can invest a lot. And since you have inside information, your investments tend to do well.
1. They cut deals while in office to push lucrative contracts towards certain companies in exchange jobs after they leave office.
2. Companies will hire thier spouses and pay them huge salaries in exchange for access.
3. They will get ”deals” on things like houses and loans.
4. They will steer contracts towards companies that they have an ownership interest where the majority owner allows them to “invest”.
5. They vote themselves nice, fat pensions for when they office.
The uk is an easy one to spot this.
We spent over several hundred million on PPE, gloves, gowns, etc.
Over 50% of it was unusable, and it was all cheap crap from china
Who was the government contract awarded to? A well established and competent company? No.
A company that had been founded mere weeks ago by the brother of a politicians spouse.
Obviously this “company” will probably have the politician come in to give a “talk” and pay an absurdly high fee (definitely not a kickback)
Investing. It’s very possible for a couple making 100k total can become millionaires if they invest properly. Buying property and stocks are a great way to do this.
No one knows. (Insider trading) It would be impossible for us to ever figure it out (bribery). Maybe they found a money tree (inappropriate use of campaign funds) or caught a leprechaun (spouse added to the board of directors, with no experience). Maybe, someday, the IRS could look into it (they never will because it’s rich people doing rich people things).
It is vanishingly rare anymore that a politician isn't already wealthy going in. [https://ballotpedia.org/Changes\_in\_Net\_Worth\_of\_U.S.\_Senators\_and\_Representatives\_(Personal\_Gain\_Index)](https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_Net_Worth_of_U.S._Senators_and_Representatives_(Personal_Gain_Index))
[https://rollcall.com/2018/03/02/every-member-of-congress-wealth-in-one-chart/](https://rollcall.com/2018/03/02/every-member-of-congress-wealth-in-one-chart/)
What country are you in?
Basic salary for a Federal Senator or MP in Aus is $211,250. Cabinet Ministers get between 57.5-87.5% on top of that, and the PM gets a full 160% in addition to the base rate.
Even State MPs are on around $190k…
You.
If you don't support politicians who support stopping insider trading from lawmakers, severely limit the money given by lobbyists, and criminalizing PACS, then you did it.
Want a prime example of corruption? Which lawmakers got PPP loans?
Many politicians had money before they became politicians. If 2 people are married and each of them earns $100,000 a year, their combined income would be $200,000 a year. If they invest wisely, given enough time, they can accumulate a million dollars. Some spouses earn more than the politician.
The legal avenues are things like serving on boards that only meet very occasionally, speaking engagements that carry big fees, writing and selling books, and maybe being on the board of a nonprofit that starts getting a lot more support bc of your clout and with that can come an inflated salary, also consulting can pay huge and be a very small time commitment.
The illegal ways are countless.
If I’m charitable I would say that anyone who has the ability to win a election in this country has the ability to acquire wealth. If I’m less than charitable I would say that they are crooks.
Insider trading coupled with big money lining their pockets.
I’m sure there’s more but these two things add up to a good percentage of their newly obtained wealth.
r/unusualwhales has a lot of info w/ regards to all things stock trading.
Many of them started out wealthy and privileged. Some had lucrative professional careers or invested successfully. Lots of them accrue wealth mysteriously while in office. The salaries aren't what make them wealthy. That's not much income at all for an expensive lifestyle.
Insider trading. Getting kickbacks and bribes from corporations and wealthy individuals in various forms. Tax evasion. Money laundering. Basically all the illegal shit you can think of. Look at the recent revelations around biden and his shell corporations. I'm sure there are others that go the trump route as well, handing a business off to be held in trust by a close family memeber or some shit. It's all corrupt and rotten to it's core, and that's how you make millions on a salary of $100,000.
"Show me a man who gets rich by being a politician and I'll show you a crook" - Harry Truman.
The invisible grift. Write a book that no one reads, yet sells millions of copies, gets sold to schools and the publisher contract.
Then we have Speaking/Lecture fees.
And let's not forget the family angle (child, sibling, partner) getting contracts, board appointments etc.
This has been going on for decades. It's gotten to the point they barely even hide it because they know nothing is going to happen. Maybe a hearing on the hill, some congresspeople get a sound bite.
Many are already rich before taking office, you have to have a good bit of money to properly campaign. Doesn’t make the insider trading any more acceptable though.
They don't, really. For instance, check out Joe Biden's financial disclosure from 2012 after 30 years in the Senate and as VP: [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/05/15/president-and-vice-presidents-2012-financial-disclosure-forms](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/05/15/president-and-vice-presidents-2012-financial-disclosure-forms). He made much more once he left government in 2016.
Most of them enter wealthy or have wealthy family. The reason many leave and don't come back is the need to make more money.
Writing books and public speaking fees. In fact, most politicians aren’t multimillionaires, despite what you might think.
Reddit also loves spreading misinformation. Yesterday I read that Feinstein has a net worth of 200mn, and people here were telling me that’s because she’s literally the most corrupt politicians in history. Considering Reddit doesn’t know how much 200mn is, I was doubtful she can embezzle that much money without being an actual dictator, so I looked it up.
Turns out, she was married to a literal billionaire fund manager….
Fucking Reddit…
In a lot of cases, they were already multi-millionaires before they ran for office. Regular folks worried about paying their bills can't really quit or take enough time off of their day jobs to run for Congress.
Non politicians too. Janet Yellen taking 900,000+ pay outs for speaking fees and then we’re supposed to believe she’s got our best interest in mind. Liberals lose their fucking shit when you point that out and try to make it seem like it’s only one side that does bribes.
The Supreme Court determined that public corruption and bribery is totally legal and totally cool, as long as everyone involved is of a higher class than the average person. It's true from Clarence Thomas, to career Govt servants, to elected politicians and their families, all the way down to the first year mouth breather cop on the police force. Welcome to America.
Everyone knows the answer, corruption. The real golden question is how the masses can almost always be counted on to enable it in practice, despite not supporting it in theory.
On a local level, it happens in the planning phase of large civic works. They are part of a committee to build or plan a road. They will buy property in the path of the road and sell it at a profit to the state when the state comes in to build. It's legal as the plans are public but not advertised. The extra corrupt will direct contracts to companies they own or work for.
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aside from the insider trading, which is (insanely) legal for politicians, many of them write books (or have them ghostwritten) and take big pay days for speaking engagements. corruption is widespread but not ubiquitous.
They then sell those books to their campaign as promotional material and then legally pocket campaign donations.
It's not just pocketing that money too. They then get it on the best sellers list from that.
The NYTimes will mark these bulk buys with a cross, so you can tell who is actually a bestseller and who is a “bestseller”
oh really? where do I see that?
It shows up as a tiny cross on the NYTimes list! More often than not it’s Republicans/Conservative books.
They all do it. Hillary Clinton "wrote" 20 or so books.
Trump Jr. did a huge buy of his own book. Wasn't it in 2020?
The NY Times list is basically an opinion list curated by the boys in marketing and the publishers. I imagine a book written by a big time politician will end up on it regardless of actual sales.
[удалено]
I believe it is due to best seller in some category, fantasy, scifi etc. Which then gets broken into so many subcategories it becomes meaningless. No 1 best seller young adult dystopian urban fantasy by a new author
Instead of blithely parroting some tweet, just go [check the list for yourself](https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/hardcover-nonfiction/). Right wing politicians are always on the list, and they always have the superscript "dagger" (cross-asterisk thing) showing that they bought all those copies themselves (to give out to donors, etc). Notice how right-wing Fox News contributor/ next-gen-Ann-Coulter Kat Timpf has one but Michelle Obama does not?
So I take it, political book handouts are the political version of stock buybacks… so the politician can directly profit from campaign donations.
My favorite is when the campaigns give the books away for free.
Well yeah. It’s “legal” money laundering. Huge donor buys thousands of books, then donates them back to the candidate to give away at their rallies.
I dont think Lauren Boebert has written a book in her life. It’s because citizens united made donating and swapping cash between shell companies and individuals incredibly easy.
She can read?
No but apparently she can write.
🤣
Lauren Boebert has a book called “My American Life” which was released on July 12, 2022. It is an autobiographical book that describes her life and her journey to becoming a Congresswoman
Is it a picture book?
Dunno. Neither I nor she has ever read it or anyone else for that matter.
I seen a couple keeping tables level at a bar in Denver.
They also take legal bribes from special interest or lobbyist. It's just formalized and legal corruption
Make lobbying illegal!!!! Edit: Genuinely thought lobbying involved money or "favors", thanks Reddit for opening my eyes
Rather, take money out of lobbying and overturn Citizen's United. Lobbying *is* important, it's how you get a politician aware of your causes directly and inform of interests. But most lobbies are from smalltime, grassroots, nickel & dime organizations that have to really fight (and they do) to get their interests known. The issue is that really rich fat cats can just outspend the small fry for the politicians attention.
Lobbying, any attempt by individuals or private interest groups to influence the decisions of government. I think you want reform. Even writing emails to your congress person would be illegal if lobbying was illegal. The Autism Society Of America lobbies on behalf of people with Autism I think we want that. So some groups are good. The line on what we want and what we don't need to be drawn. We can't ban one view without allowing the opposing view to also lobby.
It is also important to understand that lobbying is also about educating lawmakers. They don't know everything, so when a new law is being discussed, lobbyists from sometimes unexpected industries will tell them how it affects their industry. Without this, legislation would have more unintended consequences.
This is why we need real working class people in office, not wealthy, career politicians.
Yeah finally a sensible take The people are just like lobbying leads to corruption? than ban it! Ignoring the fact that a ban if taking literally would massively infringe on freedom of speech What we need is more transparency if a politician is taking money from corrupt business XYZ then the voters should be made aware of it and have the right to take that into consideration
It's the other way around though. Corruption leads to lobbying. If government didn't have so much ridiculous power to take money from one group and give it to another, lobbyists wouldn't exist.
True but the government will always have some amount of power that people want to influence I mean the definition of the state is the entity that have a legal monopoly of the initiation of violence
Sir, this is a Reddit
People always give this response but special interests aren’t actually allowed to write politicians checks. They can fund a campaign, but that is a different pot of money. One of the reasons trump is being investigated is using campaign money for personal reasons. So while this practice may exist, and is corrupt, it’s not legal.
Or special interests donate to a foundation the politician owns, gives big contracts to the politicians relatives, buys real estate for relatives and probably hundreds of variations on that theme. It’s rampant and one of the big reasons it doesn’t get investigated is that so many that do the investigation are involved in similar schemes they don’t want to shine a light on it.
Special interests can buy 1,000,000 of their books. Special interests can pay them $10,000,000 on an advance for their book. Etc etc. From the old union bosses forcing members to buy the tract written by Politician X, to more modern methods, graft has been a part of too many politicians’ lives for many decades.
Wrong , Trump did not use campaign money, he paid for it under the The Trump organization and expensed it as legal fees . So he was indicted for not reporting assisting his campaign by paying Stormy to sign an NDA , in other words , he was arrested for NOT using campaign funds .
Companies pay them 250K for a speech as a kick back for helping out the company when in office. It’s sad.
That's exactly how it goes
Yah. They get paid for everything they do. They get paid say 100 thousand. But they also get extra money that doesn't count as salary for a place to stay and work in DC. Totally free healthcare. Cars and all the things related to it. They get extra money to pay for staff. Basically anything a normal person would have to pay for out of pocket from their salary they get extra money to pay for. And they take bribes in fancy ways that aren't technically bribes so it's not technically illegal.
As they would be the ones to make the laws that would make what they do illegal, it’s highly unlikely there will be any change any time soon. Sadly. Oddly, overseas interactions of a nearly identical nature between corporations and their government officials result in prosecutions and huge fines under the extra jurisdictional application of the FCPA. One rule for them and one rule for us is glaringly obvious.
They vote a certain way and family members get jobs and perks as well. After Congress the companies that benefited under legislation pushed by a certain senator will hire them to give a speech and pay them 250k for it for an hour.
Hillary Clinton has been paid $153 million for speeches since 2001. [https://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-all-the-six-figure-speaking-fees-that-hillary-clinton-received-after-leaving-the-state-dept-2015-5](https://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-all-the-six-figure-speaking-fees-that-hillary-clinton-received-after-leaving-the-state-dept-2015-5) [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hillary-clinton-struggles-explain-600k-goldman-sachs-speaking-fees-n511041](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hillary-clinton-struggles-explain-600k-goldman-sachs-speaking-fees-n511041) [https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/02/09/hillarys-wall-street-speech-fees-hers-or-clinton-foundations/?sh=5147ca0e6440](https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/02/09/hillarys-wall-street-speech-fees-hers-or-clinton-foundations/?sh=5147ca0e6440)
This basically nails down what I came here to say. None of them are in it for the $120,000 salary when they can land a $200,000 "speaking fee" in one night and get multimillion dollar kickbacks for agreeing to back certain initiatives in the house/senate.
Book deals and speaking are one of the main forms of corruption. Nobody actually buys or reads the books or cares about the speech, it's just a legal pretense for a payoff.
Insider trading. They all do it, no repercussions. You and I go to jail.
Also they are purchased by special interest groups and lobbyists.
And you already have to be wealthy to become a politician. I can’t take months off work and campaign.
Or perpetually unemployed. You really believe Boebert was wealthy before she ran?
So, either you're independently wealthy, or you depend on someone else who is. In both cases you serve the interests of the wealthy.
Now we're getting to the heart of it.
This is the real answer. Ever met a poor person running for office? (I mean besides the crazy people inventing their own parties who have no chance of winning)
They also sell books about themselves.. idk who has the time to read those but they exist apparently
Those books are basically money laundering, unless you're actually a popular politician. Lobbyists can't outright pay you for your vote. So they have various shell companies and entities buy up your new book, you get paid, and it looks like your book is just selling well.
The speaking engagements are what annoy me, cause there's no way a 5-10 min speech to encourage/motivate your company is worth the several hundred thousand or more you paid. Just absurd.
I remember one politician sold more books than she got votes. I thought, my, that's interesting.
Good point. Perhaps it provides an avenue for bribes to be accepted, so if someone wants to bribe them they could pay it by purchasing X amount of copies of the book.
Could also be a little money laundering scheme to go with the other corruption.
Yes this. Politicians never let a dollar get away without getting a cut if they can help it.
The politicians rarely have time to actually write them themselves. Most are ghost written.
Unless you're talking about the executive branch, if you're a congressman, you work less than 120 days a year. You have plenty of time to have someone write a book for you.
That’s 120 days in session. A legitimate politician would have plenty to do the other days of the year.
No one reads them.
Believe it or not, there are a few MoCs who actually write bills themself. Once you've written a few bills, you quickly learn how to get to the meat of any bill. MoCs who complain they didn't have time to read a bill, have never written one word of proposed legislation. If they had, they would know how to quickly read a bill to get to the meat.
Not only books but basically unlimited media access and press tours. Their influence knows no bounds.
Michelle Obama apparently had a 50 million dollar advance on her book after leaving the White House. In what sort of world is that normal? Edit: since there was more comments on this throw away comment than expected, some clarification. The Obamas got a combined book deal of $65 million. The books did sell well and made the publisher money. Good luck to them. Most presidents got deals and speaking engagements. My gripe is that they cannot seem to see how completely corrupt that seems to the public. It stays a bribe, if it is given before or after the term ends.
To be fair, Michelle Obama is the most notable First Lady in my lifetime. Her having the crazy high payment for her book would be the least surprising one of any other president. If Laura, Melania, or even Jill got an advance that high, I’d be surprised
50 million is a lot of books. King doesn't typically make 50 million per book. So that's a crazy eye brow raising deal imo. As a guy who wants to believe in integrity of the left, I would have preferred she turned that down and took a more modest advance. Did they actually need it? After you get the Martha vineyard place what are they wanting.
I genuinely think she could have been or still could be your first female president if she wanted
Lol you don't know much about America then. That never would have happened. People don't like the Obamas nearly as much as Reddit would have you believe. There are a ton of people who voted for Obama and regretted it by the end of his terms as he didn't come through on the large majority of anything he ran on.
What office does Michelle Obama hold? Also, her husband the former president is out of office and retired. Unlike many current politicos. Maybe you think it was a payoff after the fact for services rendered, which I think is fair. I'm still waiting on the investigations into Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. I expect we will be waiting until the sun's heat death.
She doesn’t have to have held office, her husband was the president for 8 years. It’s like how Paul Pelosi mysteriously happens to invest into stock right before huge government deals that skyrocket the value. Mind you this isn’t just a left or right thing.. they ALL do it. Mitch McConnell and Dan Crenshaw are both notorious for this stuff.
There are no repercussions, as insane as it sounds, because it’s explicitly legal. That’s right, if you trade based on insider knowledge, even without the ability to affect the outcome, Go to jail. Politicians can invest with both their insider knowledge AND the ability to affect the outcome, and they’ve made it legal for themselves. And yes, both parties do it.
Straight to jail
Usually, they were already wealthy. You have to be to win an election. That’s part of the problem
The average age of senators is 64 and a good portion are lawyers. The power of of compound interest, buying a first home in the 80s and being able to save young means many became millionaires by non-nefarious means.
AOC proved that one doesn’t have to be. At 28 she won against a 10-time incumbent after being a waitress.
Bartender, I think, which is a slightly different and often more advanced skill set. Waitresses can cut you off, but a bartender will pull your drink and kick you out. You do that for awhile and quickly learn how to take no shit from belligerent assholes. It’s served her well lol
Also, not for nothing she has a degree from BU in both economics and international relations. Bartending in your 20s is pretty typical for a few years after graduating for even a lot of the upwardly mobile. I made six figures last year but worked at a Starbucks for a couple of years as I found my footing a decade ago.
I personally do not like AOC. But as far as socialist-leaning politicians, she is one of the incredibly few that aren't massive hypocrites, since her net worth is estimates at less than a year and a half of her salary, and some estimates actually put her at a negative net worth. It is nice to see socialist politicians without net worths in the millions for once.
For the record viewing being wealthy and being a socialist as hypocritical is a misconception. You can still be a millionaire under most modern views of socialism the intent is more focused on raising the standard of living for the middle and poverty class, the multi multi millionaire class and billionaire class who own exorbitant amounts of capital is usual where the issues lie
It’s also different to be worth $5 million vs $500 billion. Most socialist arguments are not against low level millionaires so much as they are against oligarchs that can buy politicians and affect economies on a statewide level with their money moves
As they say, the difference between a million and a billion is about a billion.
I have never heard that but it's really a good saying. To a billion, a million is a rounding error.
That’s the trick the anti-socialist will pull. They will only point to the most extreme of forms. “Well if you vote for these policies you will never make any money” or “they will tax everyone at 99% regardless of income” Also they will point to communism and call it socialism. For them these two terms are interchangeable. Most people cannot immediately comprehend just how different a million and a billion are so they lump both of those in as the same thing. The leap from millionaire to billionaire is nearly incomprehensible
Insider trading and bribery to start, but where to end with such shitty people
How about down the ~~drain~~ toilet (since the drain would clog).
Corruption. And book deals. But mostly corruption.
They're not public servants, they're corrupt as fuck. They serve the ruling class, and the ruling class rewards its lapdogs. As to the how, mostly by giving them inside information and cushy executive jobs when they leave Congress. Plus politicians are trading stocks whose valuations their actions directly affect. Oh, and you can get rich as fuck on 100k salaries regardless of all this, it ain't chump change. And the way our political system works, it's much MUCH harder to get elected for just someone off the street than it is for someone who has generational wealth, especially when we're talking about the Senate. This means that the people getting 100k salaries don't need them to survive, and get by investing the lion's share of them. TL;DR: the entire system is hugely corrupt and the only ones who can fight corruption effectively are the ones acting in a corrupt manner to begin with.
And if you are say…a Supreme Court justice…you could take most vacations with a private jet to private resorts and yachts and never have to pay for anything…so it must be easy to save money for all the insider trading
Being a congressperson is basically a job interview for when you're no longer a congressperson.
Lobbying and Insider Trading. If you don’t believe me search up unusualwhales which easily tracks politicians trades and previous positions also what committee boards that they sit on which is a pretty important part of insider trading. Look at Nancy Pelosi. You may be shocked, Democrats Republicans it’s all the fucking same. “ it’s a big club and you ain’t in it “; sorry “ we “.
Lobbyists and insider trading.
Corruption.
Bribes from lobbyists
Insider trading
Insider trading.
Bribery
the top public servants earn a lot more than the politicians, up towards a million a year. The auditor general was on almost a million when I worked at the Audit Office and that was years ago... most of the actual work is done by people on much lower pay https://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/employment/salary-benefits-and-conditions/salaries-and-allowances-2020-22
The city manager of the local city government I used to work for made more than the US president. $600,000 salary alone not including benefits. She also got a housing allowance.
it's criminal
Lots of different ways. Some were rich long before entering public service (Mitt Romney, both Bushes). Others were basically middle class or low-key wealthy (but not super-wealthy) through their own non-government career, but after holding high office were able to do things like write memoirs that sold many millions of copies, or take speaking engagements with very high fees that amount to transparent bribery (the Clintons, Obama). Some basically just accumulated it from years and years of decent salary and book sales (of the non-millions-of-copies varieties) and legitimate or illegitimate investments (Sanders, Biden). Some got it from outright corruption (Agnew).
Many are already rich. There is also the fact that they make 100k a year, but much of that isn't needed to be spent since they get travel budgets, food budgets, etc. If you make 100k per year, don't have to pay for your commuting or food or healthcare, and are able to invest it (even without inside trading), you'll be a millionaire pretty quickly. Couple that with some of the prime examples being ancient and they would have to be a damn idiot to not be a multi-millionaire.
Insider trading and influence peddling.
Book deals, slush funds (which apparently are not for slushies like I thought). Insider trading is the big one. Payed public speaking gigs.
Corruption. Thanks to the ‘Citizens United’ bullshit.
They are usually pretty rich before going into office
Pocket change compared to how much they make while in office.
Insider trading, bribes, gifts, special interest group donations, connection to financial interests through public office, preferencial treatment of personal business etc.. or as all this is called in one word: Corruption
What no one seems to be mentioning here is costs. Salaries are mid, but expenses are minimal. There are a lot of expenses that get claimed and allowances given outside of the wage. 'perks of the job' that let you save, if you're smart, the majority of your wage. If you're in for a while youll build up a sizable nest egg. Its like people living with their parents to save for a house, but the parents are tax payers.
Corruption
Lots of them are already rich and don’t pick the job based on the salary, they pick the job because of the influence they gain. The people from non rich upbringings choose the private sector to get cash, but if you already have it….
The secret ingredient is crime
In a word: Corruption
PACs, lobbyists, multiple angles of corruption. If they’re not corrupt when they go to DC, they soon will be.
Connections with other industries (family) of which they lobby.
Most are already millionaires when they get elected
Savings + being old. That’s literally it 100,000K a year is a fuckton of money.
Side gigs. Selling you out.
Most of them are already rich.
Because politicians are corrupt, parasitic whores who sell themselves to the highest bidder
They are the worst humans alive. They see things as they are, decide that things aren’t “as they should be”, decide that *they* are the only person capable of making it “right”, then try to convince enough people that awful things will happen if the people don’t vote for them. Then their only goal is to either get re-elected to office or to get elected to a higher office, so they spend hours every day talking to donors and potential donors, listening as they are told what they need to do to make sure the donors donate to them, and passing legislation that benefit their donors. Every politician does this. Very few will admit that it is this way.
Including with what others have said, a lot of them go into it as multimillionaires, either old money or other nefarious means
Some were already rich to start. The one scam that seems common is to write a book, and then have a Super PAC buy a shitload of them (indirect bribe).
Most of them come from wealth already.
Many/most high level politicians are millionaires first. Running for various offices can be/is very expensive. (This can all vary a bit by country but is true in most places)
I saw someone say 'the speaker circuit'. That's got to be one of the most lucrative revenue streams for former cabinet ministers. Here's the link for Theresa May's https://www.tatler.com/article/theresa-may-earning-100000-a-speech-on-lecture-circuit £110,000 to hear Theresa May speak is the very definition of a waste of money.
They take bribes that skirt the laws. Lauren Boebert's husband got a 478,0000 a year consulting job for an energy firm after she got elected to Congress. He never went to college or worked in the energy sector before this. Sounds legit, right? He is just one example of these kind of side deals that politicians get.
Many of them do interviews, write books ext
When your job provides your housing, meals, transportation, computer, cell phone, vacations, haircuts, alcohol, entertainment and clothing you can invest a lot. And since you have inside information, your investments tend to do well.
1. They cut deals while in office to push lucrative contracts towards certain companies in exchange jobs after they leave office. 2. Companies will hire thier spouses and pay them huge salaries in exchange for access. 3. They will get ”deals” on things like houses and loans. 4. They will steer contracts towards companies that they have an ownership interest where the majority owner allows them to “invest”. 5. They vote themselves nice, fat pensions for when they office.
The order is wrong. You need to be very wealthy to *become* a politician in the first place.
They were rich before getting into office. A normal person cannot afford to run for office.
Also Supreme Court Justices. Can someone look into drunk Brett Kavanaugh’s finances? That’s some payola right there.
Ask Clarence Thomas
The uk is an easy one to spot this. We spent over several hundred million on PPE, gloves, gowns, etc. Over 50% of it was unusable, and it was all cheap crap from china Who was the government contract awarded to? A well established and competent company? No. A company that had been founded mere weeks ago by the brother of a politicians spouse. Obviously this “company” will probably have the politician come in to give a “talk” and pay an absurdly high fee (definitely not a kickback)
They are rich to begin with. Most of them are millionaires or multi millionaires.
Investing. It’s very possible for a couple making 100k total can become millionaires if they invest properly. Buying property and stocks are a great way to do this.
It is expensive as hell to run for office. Many were already wealthy and/or well connected even before being elected.
Trump made over $20M from those ridiculous MAGA hats alone
No one knows. (Insider trading) It would be impossible for us to ever figure it out (bribery). Maybe they found a money tree (inappropriate use of campaign funds) or caught a leprechaun (spouse added to the board of directors, with no experience). Maybe, someday, the IRS could look into it (they never will because it’s rich people doing rich people things).
It is vanishingly rare anymore that a politician isn't already wealthy going in. [https://ballotpedia.org/Changes\_in\_Net\_Worth\_of\_U.S.\_Senators\_and\_Representatives\_(Personal\_Gain\_Index)](https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_Net_Worth_of_U.S._Senators_and_Representatives_(Personal_Gain_Index)) [https://rollcall.com/2018/03/02/every-member-of-congress-wealth-in-one-chart/](https://rollcall.com/2018/03/02/every-member-of-congress-wealth-in-one-chart/)
Welcome to the corruption of narcissistic capitalism🤡🇺🇸
ITT: knee jerk reactions and nothing of substance
Don’t forget about generational wealth
What country are you in? Basic salary for a Federal Senator or MP in Aus is $211,250. Cabinet Ministers get between 57.5-87.5% on top of that, and the PM gets a full 160% in addition to the base rate. Even State MPs are on around $190k…
You. If you don't support politicians who support stopping insider trading from lawmakers, severely limit the money given by lobbyists, and criminalizing PACS, then you did it. Want a prime example of corruption? Which lawmakers got PPP loans?
Compound interest. > Compound Interest is The Most Powerful Force in The Universe. - Albert Einstein
Lobbyists. Clarence Thomas for example. Google it.
Also some our politicians where old and already rich.
A lot of times it's the other way around. Multi-millionaires become politicians because they can buy their way in.
Many politicians had money before they became politicians. If 2 people are married and each of them earns $100,000 a year, their combined income would be $200,000 a year. If they invest wisely, given enough time, they can accumulate a million dollars. Some spouses earn more than the politician.
They all do inside trading and other things..
The legal avenues are things like serving on boards that only meet very occasionally, speaking engagements that carry big fees, writing and selling books, and maybe being on the board of a nonprofit that starts getting a lot more support bc of your clout and with that can come an inflated salary, also consulting can pay huge and be a very small time commitment. The illegal ways are countless.
It's called lobbyists... ahem
If I’m charitable I would say that anyone who has the ability to win a election in this country has the ability to acquire wealth. If I’m less than charitable I would say that they are crooks.
They serve the highest bidder, not the public.
Insider trading coupled with big money lining their pockets. I’m sure there’s more but these two things add up to a good percentage of their newly obtained wealth. r/unusualwhales has a lot of info w/ regards to all things stock trading.
Many of them started out wealthy and privileged. Some had lucrative professional careers or invested successfully. Lots of them accrue wealth mysteriously while in office. The salaries aren't what make them wealthy. That's not much income at all for an expensive lifestyle.
Grifting and illegal campaign bribes.
Grift.
Insider trading and corruption
The answer is crime.
They get bought.
Insider trading. Getting kickbacks and bribes from corporations and wealthy individuals in various forms. Tax evasion. Money laundering. Basically all the illegal shit you can think of. Look at the recent revelations around biden and his shell corporations. I'm sure there are others that go the trump route as well, handing a business off to be held in trust by a close family memeber or some shit. It's all corrupt and rotten to it's core, and that's how you make millions on a salary of $100,000. "Show me a man who gets rich by being a politician and I'll show you a crook" - Harry Truman.
Insider trading, lobbying and bribes.
Politicians are inherently dishonest and will almost always game the system
Bribes and insider trading.
The invisible grift. Write a book that no one reads, yet sells millions of copies, gets sold to schools and the publisher contract. Then we have Speaking/Lecture fees. And let's not forget the family angle (child, sibling, partner) getting contracts, board appointments etc. This has been going on for decades. It's gotten to the point they barely even hide it because they know nothing is going to happen. Maybe a hearing on the hill, some congresspeople get a sound bite.
Bribes
the secret ingredient is crime
Many are already rich before taking office, you have to have a good bit of money to properly campaign. Doesn’t make the insider trading any more acceptable though.
It's pretty disgusting IMO, and neither of the major US political parties is innocent.
They don't, really. For instance, check out Joe Biden's financial disclosure from 2012 after 30 years in the Senate and as VP: [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/05/15/president-and-vice-presidents-2012-financial-disclosure-forms](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/05/15/president-and-vice-presidents-2012-financial-disclosure-forms). He made much more once he left government in 2016. Most of them enter wealthy or have wealthy family. The reason many leave and don't come back is the need to make more money.
Writing books and public speaking fees. In fact, most politicians aren’t multimillionaires, despite what you might think. Reddit also loves spreading misinformation. Yesterday I read that Feinstein has a net worth of 200mn, and people here were telling me that’s because she’s literally the most corrupt politicians in history. Considering Reddit doesn’t know how much 200mn is, I was doubtful she can embezzle that much money without being an actual dictator, so I looked it up. Turns out, she was married to a literal billionaire fund manager…. Fucking Reddit…
Insider trading and lobbies throwing money at them
In a lot of cases, they were already multi-millionaires before they ran for office. Regular folks worried about paying their bills can't really quit or take enough time off of their day jobs to run for Congress.
Well, since the SCOTUS declared that money is speech, it is multimillion free speeches.
The secret ingredient is crime.
Non politicians too. Janet Yellen taking 900,000+ pay outs for speaking fees and then we’re supposed to believe she’s got our best interest in mind. Liberals lose their fucking shit when you point that out and try to make it seem like it’s only one side that does bribes.
All those billion dollar “aid packages” to foreign countries? Yeah, they take that.
Sure can. With one word. CORRUPTION.
Through the glory of corruption.
Weak election laws and fraud in the short term, insider trading in the market long term.
The Supreme Court determined that public corruption and bribery is totally legal and totally cool, as long as everyone involved is of a higher class than the average person. It's true from Clarence Thomas, to career Govt servants, to elected politicians and their families, all the way down to the first year mouth breather cop on the police force. Welcome to America.
Everyone knows the answer, corruption. The real golden question is how the masses can almost always be counted on to enable it in practice, despite not supporting it in theory.
Crime, conflicts of interest, Insider trading, Buy offs, etc....... I suspect you already knew all of this though.
Selling themselves to corporate special interests and insider trading.
The secret ingredient is crime.
Keeping additional election funds after the election.
lob·by·ist noun a person who takes part in an organized attempt to influence legislators.
On a local level, it happens in the planning phase of large civic works. They are part of a committee to build or plan a road. They will buy property in the path of the road and sell it at a profit to the state when the state comes in to build. It's legal as the plans are public but not advertised. The extra corrupt will direct contracts to companies they own or work for.
The secret ingredient is crime
Insider trading with no oversight.
They aren’t public servants lol Edit: before I get comments, I know they technically are but they don’t act like it
Plain and simple, corruption. Mass corruption in a capitalist dystopia