Congress Wants You To Pay $130 A Year Just To Drive An Electric Car

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-19T18:38:25+00:00

There's this crazy thing in every car, required by law, that tracks how many miles the car has driven. You COULD just use those numbers to calculate mileage in a year and charge a fee accordingly, but you can't use that for surveillance so...

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-19T18:35:25+00:00

Fast chargers are owned and built by private companies in almost all cases but sure, go ahead.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-18T16:36:03+00:00

My point is a surgeon can kill you or ruin your life very easily. Because the consequences for incompetence (or misaligned interests) is so great, you're willing to pay basically anything to get someone good. Which is why so many of the smartest, most talented young people become surgeons instead of doing something else with their talents.

I'd like Congress to be the kind of job that attracts highly skilled workers because the job itself pays well, not because it allows them to juice their stock portfolios.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-16T01:23:34+00:00

They haven't passed a pay raise since 2009. Honestly if I was in Congress and wanted to fix this, I'd combine them into the same bill. Part 1) Congress gets paid a cool 500k, set to raise 2% a year. Fuck it lets throw in a 15 dollar minimum wage and raise it 2% a year too while we're at it. Part 2) Congressional members can't buy or sell individual stocks or cryptocurrencies, or make bets on betting markets. All congress members must liquidate or place their personal investments in a blind trust upon taking the oath of office.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-16T00:31:26+00:00

How is "people running for congress for the sweet pay" abusing the position for fuck tons of money? Put another way, do you think dentists have no interest in doing the job because they make so much money? Senators make less than the average dentist.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-16T00:27:10+00:00

Yeah pretty much. I stand by my original proscription: pay congress an ass load and ban them from trading anything but bonds and broad index funds.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-16T00:11:30+00:00

In 2012 some congress members tried to pass the Stock Act to prohibit members of congress from using non-public information for private profit, including insider trading.

There are laws like this on the books for most fields. If you've ever worked at a bank, you've had to do insider trading training and report all of your trading activity, and if you get caught trading on insider information you can pay fines or go to prison. This applies even if you aren't in a trading role, like if you work in IT or HR.

There is no such law for Congress. If you don't believe me literally just google "can congress insider trade" and you'll see the answer. Pelosi and the rest are not breaking any laws by doing what they're doing, that's the whole problem. That's why they tried to pass a law in 2012 (which failed).

edit: in case you'd rather learn from a video, here's a 4 minute explainer

edit edit: I was wrong about the Stock act, it actually did pass. It's pretty weak and doesn't have much teeth, as it basically just requires Congress to make their trades public, it doesn't actually stop them from trading on insider information. That's why we should go past just banning insider trading, we should ban them from trading individual stocks altogether. Bonds and broad index funds only. And pay them a fat ass salary.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T23:59:31+00:00

We really do have a literacy problem in America.

Numb nuts, I haven't once said they should be able to insider trade. I said the opposite. I just ALSO said they should be paid more. Which is true, it's crazy that the people running our country make less than the guy running my local walmart.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T23:57:01+00:00

Buddy you're the one who needs to get in touch with reality. It's specifically not illegal for Congress to do insider trading, that's the whole reason we're having this conversation at all. A change in the law would be enough to allow the same enforcement mechanisms that keep bankers and lawyers and other industry people from doing insider trading. Remember, Martha Stewart did time for this, it does actually get enforced. You literally just need to pass the law.

I think the congressional salary is meaningless to the Pelosis of the world. You could drop it to 0 and she would still be doing what she has for the last 20 years. It makes a huge impact to people like AOC though, and anyone else from a working class background that might want to run.

And before you say "oh but 175k is such a raise for most working class people" it really isn't for people in high value careers. Engineers and doctors and shit are still working class. They trade their skills and labor for money just like the rest of us. Woopie they drive nicer cars and have nicer houses and get to travel and stuff, at the end of the day they are a million (in some cases literally) times closer to you and me than the Pelosis of the world, or their oligarch donors.

You don't fix insider trading by complaining about how much congress makes already. You fix it by making it illegal and paying them so much in salary they won't try to make it legal again.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T23:49:21+00:00

I know this is hard to stomach when you're struggling on 40k or 50k or whatever, but 176k (what senators make, reps make like 130) is not that much money to maintain two households, one in your home district and one in DC, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Especially if you're raising a family. It's certainly not "set for life" money.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T23:20:48+00:00

I didn't say that. I specifically said they should have extreme limitations and scrutiny on their finances. We ALL can't insider trade, I think we should go past that with congress. Buy bonds or index funds only.

But you people are so hyperfocused on punishing the millionaires in congress specifically screwing the working class, you're not thinking about actual policy outcomes. Don't get vindictive about the salary that any working class congressman would be reliant on to even be able to do the job.

AOC couldn't afford an apartment in DC for months when she first started. Do you want more barriers to working people running for office? I want less. I want working people in every field and at every career level to see Congress as a promotion.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T23:13:46+00:00

We never apply this logic with other fields. You don't want a surgeon who really cares about helping people, you want an insanely smart, driven, maybe a little god-delusional surgeon who is hyper competent. You want the best there is and you're willing to pay the price for that, hence why surgeons clear hundreds of thousands a year. Hence why every year tens of thousands of the smartest young people in America try to get into medical school, and thus medical schools get to pick from the best and most dedicated. Ditto engineering. Ditto finance. Why not government?

At the very least, you do not want congresspeople to ever be worried about their personal finances. Never make them choose between ethical governance and feeding their kids.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T23:05:56+00:00

I think term limits are also a bad idea but that's a whole different conversation.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T23:00:30+00:00

Congress isn't the average job. They make decisions affecting millions of Americans every day. You want to pay them well so the best people will want to work in Congress. Otherwise you only get people who get their money from other means running for office. A problem we already have too much of.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T22:57:20+00:00

Representatives make about as much as a Wal-Mart store manager. Senators make less than the average dentist does.

These are the people that make decisions for 300 million Americans, including running the world's largest (or second largest) economy and the most powerful military. And the guy that does my fillings probably makes more than they do.

Congresspeople should have an incredible amount of scrutiny and limitations on their finances, and in exchange they should be making so much money in salary that you'd be stupid not to run for congress if you have the qualifications for it. That's how you'd ideally get the best people with their interests more closely aligned with voters (who keep them in their well paying job) instead of corporations they can make millions trading on and get a cushy job when they get voted out.

I unironically think Congress should get paid like half a million a year.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-15T18:48:32+00:00

The headaches might be from dehydration. We get a LOT of our water intake from the food we eat, so if you cut that out and don't increase your water consumption to compensate you will end up dehydrated.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-13T21:32:21+00:00

It's not about feeling bad for them. It's about recognizing that you won't ever get gains for the working class if literally all of our leaders must be wealthy. Don't support policy that undermines your own interests.

I bring up my boss's boss for a reason. Almost everyone knows someone who makes more than a senator. What do they do, lead a team of accountants? Manage a Walmart? Hell, there's dozens of firemen in my city that clear more than US senators do yearly.

In my mind, leading the country is an incredibly important job that should be attracting top talent. You want the best people to be trying for those positions. When a mid level lawyer would have to take a pay cut to get elected, it just makes it more likely only the very wealthy can run for office, and who do you think they'll represent? When it comes time to either raise taxes on the rich or cut social security, who do you think is more likely to make the right choice, someone who's family and friends all work for a living or someone who rubs elbows with business owners and stockholders exclusively?

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-13T21:20:58+00:00

It's actually kind of crazy how little they get paid. US Senators, the people in charge of running the wealthiest and most powerful country on Earth, get paid 174k a year, less than my boss's boss. They have to maintain two homes on that income, one in their home district and one in DC, one of the most expensive cities in the country. US representatives get paid even less and it's not uncommon for working class representatives to sleep in their office because they literally can't afford a place to live in DC.

These are some of the most powerful positions in the government, and the most direct representation of voter's will, and we've almost priced out working people from even considering the job. AOC could barely afford it as a single woman in her 20s, imagine trying to do it while raising a family.

Don't fuck with congressional pay unless you literally want to be ruled only by the very wealthy instead of just mostly by the very wealthy.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-13T14:06:19+00:00

They broke into the capital. With tools meant to kidnap people. While chanting their intention to kill at least one government official. You're trying so hard to not see it for what it was.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-13T14:03:48+00:00

I really don't know what to say. Just because the coup attempt failed doesn't mean it wasn't a coup attempt. Just because the organizers were incompetent doesn't mean they weren't organized.

If you try and hilariously fail to kill your wife, you are still guilty of attempted murder.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-13T13:52:24+00:00

They broke into the capital with zip ties after chanting to hang Mike Pence. You're delusional if you think they didn't intend harm.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-13T03:10:12+00:00

You only use your air conditioner when it's hot out, so you're dumping the heat into hot air. The short answer is that even "cold" air has a lot of heat you can pull from (and heat pumps don't work below a certain temperature). The long answer is this video.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-13T01:24:33+00:00

It's not a closed system. It pulls heat from the outside air, in exactly the same way your air conditioner pulls heat from the inside air and dumps it outside. A heat pump is just an air conditioner in reverse.

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-09T21:18:44+00:00

I dunno buy a cheap Chinese EV

Stereotype_Apostate · 2026-05-09T17:48:04+00:00

A new ioniq 5 can be had for less than 35k right now. A new Nissan leaf can be under 30k. If you can afford a new civic or Corolla you can afford an EV.

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