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Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by badrabbit on Thursday July 28, 2022 @01:09PM (#32267238)
Better Idea: $300k base and a performance bonus up to 100% more based on sponsored laws and an additional 100% for passed laws with an extra 100k for no votes missed or abstained. So a perfectly performing congressperson gets a mil.
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by zeruch on Thursday July 28, 2022 @01:15PM (#32267345)
I'm not sure about the specifics you outlined, but I do think a comp package that incentivizes grown-ass behavior (read: full attendance, voting, actual participation in the legislative process) is a great idea.

I don't think rewarding certain behaviors like sponsoring is good, because its too easily abused. When a KPI becomes a target, its no longer a KPI.

Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by avn2109 on Thursday July 28, 2022 @02:50PM (#32268629)
If we're designing a system of incentives and constraints for legislators, let's pay bounties for laws deleted.

There are probably 2 or 3 orders of magnitude too many laws currently in America (have you ever estimated trying to read and comprehend the entire law? Borderline impossible in a single lifetime even under very optimistic reading-speed assumptions etc).

If this metric becomes a target and ceases to be a good metric, that sounds ideal because it'll have the side effect of drastically simplifying the legal code.

Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by zeruch on Thursday July 28, 2022 @05:21PM (#32270278)
"let's pay bounties for laws deleted." That's still a target that can be abused for self-gain, so...no.

To be blunt, your whole polemic reads like a CATO fever dream, which is the opposite of what I was suggesting; ideological contrivance isn't a solve, and complexity at a nation our size and scope ain't gonna get reduced to a nice pamphlet of rules. It's the same reason you can't run a FAANG company the same way you run a 6 person A-round company.

Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by badrabbit on Thursday July 28, 2022 @07:08PM (#32271141)
Repealing laws counts towards the kpi
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by thebiss on Thursday July 28, 2022 @02:22PM (#32268299)
Can you clarify when/how a KPI ever not a target?

Bonuses and promotions always go to those who exceed them, and "improvement plans" or "restructuring" is reserved to those who miss.

Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by cwkoss on Thursday July 28, 2022 @02:32PM (#32268419)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive#The_origina...

Any imperfect measure that becomes a target gets pursued at the expense of the original intent.

Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by badrabbit on Thursday July 28, 2022 @07:12PM (#32271171)
It's not a perverse incentive, there is a limit to it. And it has a counter balancing incentive in the form of having to run for an election. If you passed bad laws for the sake of metrics you get voted out because there is someone else that wants to do better than you. A perverse incentive is not the same as compensation for doing your job.
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by zeruch on Thursday July 28, 2022 @05:22PM (#32270284)
You restated what I meant better than I stated it. Thank you.
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by cortesoft on Thursday July 28, 2022 @01:16PM (#32267366)
I don't think number of laws passed is a good performance metric... it is basically like paying developers per line of code.
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by badrabbit on Thursday July 28, 2022 @01:55PM (#32267925)
More like bonuses for LoC . The idea is to encourage decision making and discourage gridlocks and not attempting to pass laws because they don't have support.
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by cortesoft on Thursday July 28, 2022 @02:39PM (#32268492)
You are going to end up with a lot of meaningless laws… they will pass laws like “apple pie is now the official American dessert”
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by badrabbit on Thursday July 28, 2022 @05:23PM (#32270292)
Hopefully their opponent will use that against them on election year to prevent that
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by okasaki on Thursday July 28, 2022 @01:57PM (#32267958)
How about 2M per year, but at the end there's a vote and if you have less than 50% approval you have to give it back?
Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ... by Bloating on Thursday July 28, 2022 @03:24PM (#32269021)
that would save a lot of taxpayer money for sure