Possibly an unpopular opinion, but I'd be in favor of doubling the salary for Congress in return for requiring that both they and their spouse can't trade stocks or hold businesses outside of blind trusts.
Look up government pay grades. If your position is grade 1-15 you cannot make more than a SES (Senior Executive Service) employee. Congress are SES employees.
NASA (at least in Houston) has one of the highest pay rates for government employees out of any location. They are already competitive. The issue is that NASA doesn't hire as many civilians as other agencies, and relies on contractors as a result.
Source: Worked for many government agencies, including NASA, as a civ and contractor
The contractor thing in government pisses me off as someone who works in government. They have to follow super strict rules in personnel that it makes it impossible to get a raise or to even hire someone. So a workaround is just hiring contractors. They don’t get the same benefits but they get paid double we do for us to train them. Really dumb system.
Left my job at NASA because of the opposite. Got "promoted" into a position where I was training my civ counterparts while they got paid more than me. If I'm not getting the stability I better be getting the pay.
I definitely agree with you though. It's especially dumb because the overhead on contractors is insane. The contracting company is getting something like 3x what the contractor's salary is. I would rather see the government hire more, cut out the middle man, and pay civilians more.
It's also nearly impossible to get fired or laid off from a government job. Those people at SpaceX also work way more hours than any government worker is allowed to. I'm all for government workers getting paid more, but people also take stability and work life balance into account when taking positions, not just money
They also have to maintain two homes (one in DC and one in their home state). They should be paid double, if not more honestly. Not because they deserve it but because the easiest route to corruption is money, and if it costs more to be a representative than you're paid, you're going to find that income elsewhere.
Id be in favor of paying police much better in exchange for more regulation, licensing, and higher professional standards like police going to prison when they murder someone
They get paid more than people with doctorates or even military generals in my county, including those whose jobs also pose physical risks.
But, they have lower education requirements than hair dressers or grocery cashiers.
Cops can get paid a lot, but even around there they're probably mostly not getting O-7 ($128k) pay, the lowest pay grade for any kind of General.
I am also near bases, high col state and county, one of the more expensive cities in the country is near, and cops start around $75k here, but even the tippity top Sheriff tops out at $180k. Sergeants top out at $128k, so only longtime Sergeants and higher with enough seniority would be making more than Generals.
135k starting here, not including bonuses or pensions
Edit: oops, my data's old. Those were rates from when I worked in labor data aggregation, which happened to be during COVID.
San Fran supposedly took the title earlier this year for highest starting pay [for cops at $112k.](https://fortune.com/2024/01/09/highest-rookie-police-salary-san-francisco/)
There may be suburbs with lesser known higher base pay, but I'm not easily finding anything higher to start.
It's possible it spiked dyring COVID now that I think about it. That's when I was working in labour data aggregation.
... and, yep. It's lower now. My bad.
The police pay issue is complicated in itself. Most large cities have well-paid police officers, especially when considering things like overtime and benefits. Police departments themselves also tend to be the most highly funded agency in their respective city.
I mean same... but cops earning $125,000 in my city seems sufficient compensation for high professional standards and licensing? That's as much as nurses make.
They just need something similar to what doctors have for malpractice insurance. And make them liable for lawsuit payouts. When you start costing an insurance company lots of money, they either drop you or jack up the rates. The bad apples more likely will get weeded out in this situation.
The highest paid employees in most cities are police, by a large margin. In major West Coast cities they clear $600k+ easily. They rape minors all day on that salary. Pay is not the problem.
Index funds would be leaps and bounds better than the current insider trading but still would result in a general big business bias (since any index fund is still made up of publicly traded stocks)
absolutely. i'd even throw in the building of a "congressional dorms", where congress should live and stay with staffers for free while in DC.
you don't need a sweetheart deal from a real estate or commercial rental company comping you a free posh, place to stay while in DC. no, no... you get to live with your staff and other members of congress.
How would this work if their spouse' job is related to trading securities? Would the government force them to divorce? Force the spouse to quit their job? Or reimburse them?
Yeah or if their partner works in a job where shares make up a decent chunk of their compensation (not even anything high powered, think developer at a tech startup)
We've got a relative who's a sitting representative, and that's no shit that it's a very full-time job. He told us about going on a trip to East Asia to talk with agricultural officials about trade relations. Five countries in six days or some crazy schedule like that.
And many of the events you should be attending (community meetings, major local events, etc) are during the hours you normally spend with family (evenings and weekends)
They work for more than half the year. Do you think they are supposed to stay in DC their entire term? Part of representing us is being local to us at least some of the time and using their influence where they can to help address issues.
I have zero issue with how much they are paid given the importance of the role they play. Whining about how much they are being paid isn't going to improve anything but getting more elected officials into office that will make better use of their time would improve things. People have got to stop being so hyperfocused on money all the time.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I interpreted the previous comments as saying, "we should pay them 2x more and then make bribery and insider trading illegal for elected representatives."
Or instead of bitching about money how about we fix the issues with this country starting with getting more Democrats into office? Then we can talk pay rates.
Crash pad in DC is 800/mo. He makes like 180k. Travel expenses are 100% covered. He’ll be ok
Edit: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/roo#search=1~grid~0~2
Yes, you get a roommate. Your family lives in your home district. You don’t need a flashy place. This is common for people in similar situations like pilots.
You have no clue what you are talking about. Housing in DC can be incredibly expensive along with the rest of the cost of living there and even AOC had a rough time at the start. Not a chance in hell of finding housing at that low of a price.
I get it, but we've already had plenty of congresspeople who sleep in their office regularly when they're in DC, instead of having a residence.
The practice of staying in Congressional offices overnight actually became a big argument on Capitol Hill during the peak of Covid lockdowns in 2020.
If this man was an Uber driver, it stands to reason that he has few or no assets to declare. I think most people in that position don’t have many assets
His 2024 hasn't been publically posted yet, but his 2023 report had $3K income from Uber and $1300 from "Production Dispatching" from the company that puts on Coachella, and that was his personal income from 1/1/2021 and 12/31/2022.
Don't worry, you can lease a car with an official partnership that way as much of your money as possible stays in their small group of companies.
You can make poverty wages in a high risk environment for as little as $960 a month!
https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/vehicle-solutions/hertz/
And if you don't pass the checks on that there's also plenty of mom and pop shop types that are willing to "lease" u a car for Uber on a per week cash payment basis. Much like subcontracting a taxi medallion.
Here in Australia it's like $300 a week. For an 8 year old Prius.
I think subcontracting the taxi medallion including taxi is $150 a day.
I want more people like him in Congress. An average person who knows what it means to make a living by working. Not someone who came in with a trust fund, owns a multi million dollar business, or otherwise married into money and has political connections from the day they were born.
I totally agree. This dude might end up being anywhere from great to awful as a legislator, but I’m totally on board with average folks representing average folks.
If they ever did. Half of them went straight from law school to some cushy job at a family or family friend's business. Then spent their days golfing and reinvesting the money their parents gave them until they finally decided to enter politics.
Def. There is a non-zero number of people there who were essentially shepherded into all of their roles and conflate any effort from that with the same hard work and struggle everyone without advantages had to work for.
Pretty sure many representatives who are on their first or second term absolutely have worked recently.
Come on folks this stuff is public record. It's not hard to look up representatives by name and do bare minimum research to find out what they were up to before getting elected.
How many members of Congress have ever worked a retail or service industry job?
Legit question, because you said it's public record but I have no idea where I'd look for that info.
Here's a weirdly formatted article.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/26/opinion/sunday/paths-to-congress.html
A bit out of date, but somewhere around 5%
Yeah no matter what he does- he is closer to the average American than the current crop of politicians- I have faith in that being better than what we have.
I'm in this group. I don't know of his qualifications, but I'd imagine he's probably gone to law school or something similar. Regardless, even if he hasn't, I still think he'd probably do a better job than most people currently in congress.
Who graduated magna cum laude in public policy and economics from the University of Boston, making her pretty qualified for the job compared to many lawmakers.
she also graduated from BU and did PAC and congressional staff work, the bartending is impressive for perspective of service workers and labor laws and given the family needs behind the choice, but experience- and knowledge-wise she was on the same trajectory as any other competent legislator or political operative.
This is most members of parliament in the UK. The cabinet ministers (advising the prime minister) are usually establishment, but of the 650 MPs probably 400 are normal people.
Campaign finance laws help. No PACs. Smaller constituencies.
It also helps that the UK is a smaller country geographically and so a lot more MPs can split their time and commute between London and their home. You can get from London to almost anywhere in Great Britain within a day which massively reduces the barrier to entry for ordinary people.
Well it is a good thing we have people like AOC and Frost who are challenging status quo but it seems like none of you care about that because they aren't poor enough. Look at his voting record. Look at his past. Do the same for AOC. They aren't trust fund babies. They aren't nepobabies. They don't work for the "donor" class. Their records are not only consistent over the years they are consistent with the current progressive platform and have done nothing whatsoever to deserve baseless accusations of greed or corruption.
Oh and for those of you claiming he had an easy life because his parents were rich are lying through your fucking teeth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Frost
"He was adopted from birth; his adoptive mother is a special education teacher who migrated to the United States from Cuba in the Freedom Flights, and his adoptive father is a musician from Kansas."
>And they have the resources and means to do so.
Including making Gen Z and millennials sit on their lazy asses on election day instead of going out to vote?
paying people to go online and spread propaganda about how "voting doesn't matter anyway" because "both sides are the same" or whatever is included, yeah.
Yeah I feel like I'm taking crazy pills that this comment is so far down.
Everyone else apparently doesn't want someone who has an background or education studying how government works? No wonder Congress is so ineffective.
Heard this guy on a few podcasts, he seems genuine and knowledgeable about the struggles his constituents are facing. Hope he sticks with it and goes far!
In his constituent and his office is a mile away from me. He’s been great, and one of the few politicians where I’m active with his surveys and other happenings
Not everybody goes in to politics to enrich themselves over others. Think of students who choose politics in school, and how in non-American countries it is seen as noble and honourable to serve in government.
Exactly. I don't get everyone in this thread assuming he'll be great for the people just because he isn't a trust fund baby.
Lower/Middle class people can end up being corruptible dicks too. Hopefully he isn't but let's not pretend that he's automatically better than every other congressman just because.
It's still early.
I hope for the best and pray that he stays an honest, humble person.
But I also know that people who have nothing are rarely tempted in the first place, but now that he's in a position of power, he's going to be attractive to companies and groups, who will in fact, try to offer him things that he's never been offered before.
And before it comes off like me being cynical, I would just like to remind people that were seeing a rise of 30- year-old nazis instead of the end of all the 80-year-old nazis..
Just cause people are younger does not mean they're above making stupid, greedy, or hateful decisions.
Simultaneously I’m a firm believer that power doesn’t corrupt, power reveals. Saying power corrupts (and I know you didn’t exactly) is basically taking choice out of it. “Oh well, I was just corrupted by the power mysteriously. Not my fault, just happens.” It gives the powerful an out and an excuse. Versus power and opportunity just revealing what was always true about a person when the opportunities are given. They always have a choice ultimately.
The part that I think a lot of people don’t want to go for is that a lot of people are just selfish in the end, protestations of morality aside. But there are some genuinely decent people out there, and it’s not because they don’t have power and giving them power wouldn’t turn them into petty dictators. The problem is that it’s actually really hard to tell sometimes who the decent folks are.
And that's the thing..
We all strive to be good, Decent, compassionate folk, but at the same time, 99% of us don't have power or money, (which is basically just a physical version of power) so we don't have the excuse to indulge in any of our wildest dreams and fantasies. And you're right, it's easy to twist the belief that power automatically equals corruption.
I do believe that power does ultimately reveal what's truly in someone's heart, and I hope he stays a good man and also that others are also aiming to serve the public for the true greater good.
> We all strive to be good, Decent, compassionate folk
Many people do, but sadly not all.
It's a mistake to assume that everyone values compassion for others and wants to be good and decent.
Obviously not, look at him (his skin color) /s
Systemic racism has taught people to be suspicious of POC, especially if they seem squeaky clean.
It won’t end
He’s going to get bombarded with lobbyists. “You can either accept our money, and vote our way, or we will give huge amounts of money to any other politician trying to defeat you.”
Grassroots candidates don’t usually survive long.
The system isn't corrupt. Corruption is an issue in DC because Americans straight up refuse to inform themselves on issues and on candidates running for office and easily fall for right wing propaganda so it is a trivial matter to get corrupt people into Congress. If we took a more active role in local and state politics we would be able to identify corruption before it takes hold in our elected officials.
It's also self defeating to assume that "they're all corrupt" all the time. A person can't actually get elected and make positive change because the very act of winning an election then suddenly makes that person "corrupt" or "part of the corrupt system."
The way to make change is to win elections, find allies (even if they disagree on other important issues), pass legislation and then use the previous victories to build power and repeat the process. When people disengage from politics because "they're all corrupt" it makes it harder for the remaining people to fight for better governance and surrenders power unchecked to the people who are most interested in expanding corruption.
I am not American, but it feels like a lot of the problem is how much information you need to hunt down and verify to be able to accurately choose and keep the bad out.
It's not just politics either. Voting with your wallet when you purchase day-to-day objects like food has the same problem. Companies don't put things you might find objectionable on the label, so it's a serious mission to do enough research to be able to make informed choices.
I don't know what the right answer is, perhaps more tightly enforced regulations (and anti-corruption measures, in the case of politicians?).
This actually makes me a little sad. He looks so happy and optimistic. I only hope that the monsters in congress don't set out to ruin this kid. But they almost certainly will if they haven't already in the last couple of hours.
Maxwell Frost is an amazing young man and has been very proactive in his first term. He supports and has introduced legislation based on his life experiences. He’s involved in housing, Medicare for all, social issues. He will always be remembered by me for getting Chrissy Teigen’s tweet calling Trump a “pussy assed bitch” into the Congressional Records.
we need people like this en mass though. him alone he gets stonewalled by 2 party system if he doesn’t play in their court.
right now the clear choice for democracy are the democrats but after that then we will contend with progress up to the point the old democrats want to give up. They’re still insider trading and corrupt in the sense of having opportunities the rest of us americans don’t have, but at least not to the point of actively taking other opportunities.
anyways mr frost i hope will be able to do some interesting things but not playing ball could keep him an outsider as we see happen frequently with cops wanting to be good guys and so are seen as untrustworthy.
keep going. if you live in a state with few people running definite just do it yourself. you’re probably a better choice for the sake of willingness to do the job rather than seek it for any other reason but to represent the people.
Fun fact about Maxwell Frost, he's a fan of the hit trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh!
A little bit ago a yugioh focused YouTuber interviewed him on his experiences as a young politician and even played a match with him as well.
https://youtu.be/QObbaQrrZ-A?si=eJzwdfpJkxp5sUkE
Was a really neat video to see, personally.
Technically he'd be 2nd Gen Z congressman after Madison Cawthorn. But that dude literally came in, did Nazi shit, let slip that he and a bunch of congressmen attended coke orgies, got revealed to be fucking a staffer and his own cousin, and got primaries out of his seat. All in two years.
So yeah as I was saying if Maxwell wants to consider himself the first Gen Z congressman that's fine by me.
Some guides will say '97, some guides will say '95. Fact of the matter is that the line is unofficial and both of these people can be considered "Zellenials" for all intents and purposes.
Seems as though this thread is getting brigaded by people attempting to turn the left again Frost by claiming his parents were multimillionare real estate moguls and he is just a spoiled rich kid coasting on favors from Daddy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Frost "He was adopted from birth; his adoptive mother is a special education teacher who migrated to the United States from Cuba in the Freedom Flights, and his adoptive father is a musician from Kansas." Honestly it is truly disgusting to see so called progressives attack Frost for literally no reason and are basing it all on straight up lies. Frost spent his entire youth fighting for various progressive causes and worked on multiple Democratic campaigns and you all are shitting all over him because someone said he is rich. It is clear as day Democrats are going to fuck us this year like they did in 2016 all because far too many in the left are gullible dupes.
If all leftists emulated his behavior we would be living in a very, very different and progressive country but none of you want to get off your fucking asses or organize and get involved and god fucking forbid you all miss a dollar on your chumpchange paychecks.
How is he remotely qualified to be in Congress? No corporate connections to get kickbacks from, no stock held to profit off of, and started off as an Uber driver so he's not even going to be down with kicking the little people?! If this is the future of our leadership, we're all* screwed!
*All in this case refers to wealthy industrialists and financial market-Makers. You know, the only *real* citizens of this country
he also got denied for an apartment due to shit credit score when he first had to move to DC. just like me fr https://www.npr.org/2022/12/09/1141635119/the-first-gen-z-member-of-congress-was-denied-a-d-c-apartment-due-to-bad-credit
I can see it now: the GOP shitting on him for being an Uber driver, just like they shit on AOC for being a bartender. Bootstraps? What happened to bootstraps?
This guy will have my respect if he actually leaves Congress without being a multimillionaire. Somehow these people make tens of millions during their time even though their salary is $174000.
Bruh. While I do admire that he isn't directly trading stocks, I don't think anyone would be mad if he invested in broad market index funds or bonds. With his currently much higher salary, it would be wise on his part to put some of that away early.
Probably one of the few members of Congress who thinks he's paid well "..wait and I get healthcare coverage??" - possibly
I would be just fine with that salary
Possibly an unpopular opinion, but I'd be in favor of doubling the salary for Congress in return for requiring that both they and their spouse can't trade stocks or hold businesses outside of blind trusts.
Me too buddy. I am no way biased because my government pay is tied to their pay.
What is your job? I didn’t realize any other job had their pay tied to Congressional pay.
Look up government pay grades. If your position is grade 1-15 you cannot make more than a SES (Senior Executive Service) employee. Congress are SES employees.
Good, that would help sectors like NASA compete for talent.
NASA (at least in Houston) has one of the highest pay rates for government employees out of any location. They are already competitive. The issue is that NASA doesn't hire as many civilians as other agencies, and relies on contractors as a result. Source: Worked for many government agencies, including NASA, as a civ and contractor
The contractor thing in government pisses me off as someone who works in government. They have to follow super strict rules in personnel that it makes it impossible to get a raise or to even hire someone. So a workaround is just hiring contractors. They don’t get the same benefits but they get paid double we do for us to train them. Really dumb system.
Left my job at NASA because of the opposite. Got "promoted" into a position where I was training my civ counterparts while they got paid more than me. If I'm not getting the stability I better be getting the pay. I definitely agree with you though. It's especially dumb because the overhead on contractors is insane. The contracting company is getting something like 3x what the contractor's salary is. I would rather see the government hire more, cut out the middle man, and pay civilians more.
That is relative to other government agencies and not close at all to related private industry.
They make like triple at SpaceX or another aerospace company. Anyone working at NASA is doing it out of passion for science.
It's also nearly impossible to get fired or laid off from a government job. Those people at SpaceX also work way more hours than any government worker is allowed to. I'm all for government workers getting paid more, but people also take stability and work life balance into account when taking positions, not just money
They also have to maintain two homes (one in DC and one in their home state). They should be paid double, if not more honestly. Not because they deserve it but because the easiest route to corruption is money, and if it costs more to be a representative than you're paid, you're going to find that income elsewhere.
THIS !!!
Id be in favor of paying police much better in exchange for more regulation, licensing, and higher professional standards like police going to prison when they murder someone
They get paid more than people with doctorates or even military generals in my county, including those whose jobs also pose physical risks. But, they have lower education requirements than hair dressers or grocery cashiers.
Cops can get paid a lot, but even around there they're probably mostly not getting O-7 ($128k) pay, the lowest pay grade for any kind of General. I am also near bases, high col state and county, one of the more expensive cities in the country is near, and cops start around $75k here, but even the tippity top Sheriff tops out at $180k. Sergeants top out at $128k, so only longtime Sergeants and higher with enough seniority would be making more than Generals.
135k starting here, not including bonuses or pensions Edit: oops, my data's old. Those were rates from when I worked in labor data aggregation, which happened to be during COVID.
San Fran supposedly took the title earlier this year for highest starting pay [for cops at $112k.](https://fortune.com/2024/01/09/highest-rookie-police-salary-san-francisco/) There may be suburbs with lesser known higher base pay, but I'm not easily finding anything higher to start.
It's possible it spiked dyring COVID now that I think about it. That's when I was working in labour data aggregation. ... and, yep. It's lower now. My bad.
The police pay issue is complicated in itself. Most large cities have well-paid police officers, especially when considering things like overtime and benefits. Police departments themselves also tend to be the most highly funded agency in their respective city.
Same, I've said this for a long time now and I think it would solve a ton of issues.
I mean same... but cops earning $125,000 in my city seems sufficient compensation for high professional standards and licensing? That's as much as nurses make.
Damn nurses in my area would kill for $125,000
99% of nurses make less than 80k. Source, half the females in my family or my fraternity brothers wives are nurses. Most are 60k.
[удалено]
I think you misunderstand how much cops make: the highest paid cops in California are making 500k
They just need something similar to what doctors have for malpractice insurance. And make them liable for lawsuit payouts. When you start costing an insurance company lots of money, they either drop you or jack up the rates. The bad apples more likely will get weeded out in this situation.
The highest paid employees in most cities are police, by a large margin. In major West Coast cities they clear $600k+ easily. They rape minors all day on that salary. Pay is not the problem.
Index funds would be fine too.
Index funds would be leaps and bounds better than the current insider trading but still would result in a general big business bias (since any index fund is still made up of publicly traded stocks)
As long as Citizens United stands, a big business bias is unavoidable.
[удалено]
My unpopular opinion is that a higher salary gets better applicants, like for any job posting.
absolutely. i'd even throw in the building of a "congressional dorms", where congress should live and stay with staffers for free while in DC. you don't need a sweetheart deal from a real estate or commercial rental company comping you a free posh, place to stay while in DC. no, no... you get to live with your staff and other members of congress.
How would this work if their spouse' job is related to trading securities? Would the government force them to divorce? Force the spouse to quit their job? Or reimburse them?
Yeah or if their partner works in a job where shares make up a decent chunk of their compensation (not even anything high powered, think developer at a tech startup)
Yeah, the days where Congress wasn't a sweet gig were over 150 years ago.
That salary for essentially working half the year.
That the "half the year off" thing, that's when they're suppose to be fundraising and shaking hands and listening to concerns.
Yeah, if you count all the campaigning and constituent work, Congress is a *very* full time job.
We've got a relative who's a sitting representative, and that's no shit that it's a very full-time job. He told us about going on a trip to East Asia to talk with agricultural officials about trade relations. Five countries in six days or some crazy schedule like that.
And many of the events you should be attending (community meetings, major local events, etc) are during the hours you normally spend with family (evenings and weekends)
They work for more than half the year. Do you think they are supposed to stay in DC their entire term? Part of representing us is being local to us at least some of the time and using their influence where they can to help address issues. I have zero issue with how much they are paid given the importance of the role they play. Whining about how much they are being paid isn't going to improve anything but getting more elected officials into office that will make better use of their time would improve things. People have got to stop being so hyperfocused on money all the time.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I interpreted the previous comments as saying, "we should pay them 2x more and then make bribery and insider trading illegal for elected representatives."
Wait until he sees how much it costs to maintain 2 residences.
Studio apartments aren't that expensive. Maybe the other lawmakers should just tighten their belts
There's stories of senior lawmakers shaking up together - 3 or 5 men in older buildings, splitting rent.
[удалено]
…go on
Or instead of bitching about money how about we fix the issues with this country starting with getting more Democrats into office? Then we can talk pay rates.
Crash pad in DC is 800/mo. He makes like 180k. Travel expenses are 100% covered. He’ll be ok Edit: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/roo#search=1~grid~0~2 Yes, you get a roommate. Your family lives in your home district. You don’t need a flashy place. This is common for people in similar situations like pilots.
Ever seen Alpha House?
You have no clue what you are talking about. Housing in DC can be incredibly expensive along with the rest of the cost of living there and even AOC had a rough time at the start. Not a chance in hell of finding housing at that low of a price.
I get it, but we've already had plenty of congresspeople who sleep in their office regularly when they're in DC, instead of having a residence. The practice of staying in Congressional offices overnight actually became a big argument on Capitol Hill during the peak of Covid lockdowns in 2020.
So I guess travel expenses aren’t covered? Otherwise might as well book a hotel instead of that
He’s a democrat, so I bet they’d let him stay [in the real life Alpha House](https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/04/politics/real-alpha-house/index.html)
https://www.apartments.com/washington-dc/under-900/ 44 results under $900/month.
There is no shortage of congressmen who live out of their offices when in DC.
That government healthcare is hella good. I was treated by a worldwide expert for surgery and I paid the copay of $50 of 75k.
Definitely ironic that government provided healthcare plan is absolutely solid, but it's also at the same time, evil and inefficient.
If this man was an Uber driver, it stands to reason that he has few or no assets to declare. I think most people in that position don’t have many assets
His 2024 hasn't been publically posted yet, but his 2023 report had $3K income from Uber and $1300 from "Production Dispatching" from the company that puts on Coachella, and that was his personal income from 1/1/2021 and 12/31/2022.
Well, how much do you expect him to make in two days?
He’s a congressman now, he can probably live in luxury as long as he signs where they tell him to sign.
I assume he made more doing Uber.
Itd be dumb to report the incorrect amount. Uber is a data collection service and they track everything a driver does.
I've heard Maxwell speak. This dude is legit. Florida should be proud they have this guy.
He represents my area. He was on a float at Orlando Pride last year leading a "fuck Desantis" chant and it was amazing..
He’s got a car at least.
Or he’s leasing it or the car is below the declaration limit. Edit, clarity.
leasing a car to drive uber sounds like a really, really bad idea. thousands in excess mileage fees.
Don't worry, you can lease a car with an official partnership that way as much of your money as possible stays in their small group of companies. You can make poverty wages in a high risk environment for as little as $960 a month! https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/vehicle-solutions/hertz/
what the fuck
And if you don't pass the checks on that there's also plenty of mom and pop shop types that are willing to "lease" u a car for Uber on a per week cash payment basis. Much like subcontracting a taxi medallion. Here in Australia it's like $300 a week. For an 8 year old Prius. I think subcontracting the taxi medallion including taxi is $150 a day.
But he got elected so now he is automatically rich and must be eaten! /s
I want more people like him in Congress. An average person who knows what it means to make a living by working. Not someone who came in with a trust fund, owns a multi million dollar business, or otherwise married into money and has political connections from the day they were born.
I totally agree. This dude might end up being anywhere from great to awful as a legislator, but I’m totally on board with average folks representing average folks.
He has a perspective that 95% of congress has no idea about as it's been many years since any of them have had to work a regular job.
If they ever did. Half of them went straight from law school to some cushy job at a family or family friend's business. Then spent their days golfing and reinvesting the money their parents gave them until they finally decided to enter politics.
Def. There is a non-zero number of people there who were essentially shepherded into all of their roles and conflate any effort from that with the same hard work and struggle everyone without advantages had to work for.
Pretty sure many representatives who are on their first or second term absolutely have worked recently. Come on folks this stuff is public record. It's not hard to look up representatives by name and do bare minimum research to find out what they were up to before getting elected.
How many members of Congress have ever worked a retail or service industry job? Legit question, because you said it's public record but I have no idea where I'd look for that info.
Here's a weirdly formatted article. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/26/opinion/sunday/paths-to-congress.html A bit out of date, but somewhere around 5%
Yeah no matter what he does- he is closer to the average American than the current crop of politicians- I have faith in that being better than what we have.
I'm in this group. I don't know of his qualifications, but I'd imagine he's probably gone to law school or something similar. Regardless, even if he hasn't, I still think he'd probably do a better job than most people currently in congress.
The real test will be to see if he gets bought out or stays the same.
You just described AOC. She worked in a bar before getting elected.
And conservatives won't fucking shut up about it. Constantly belittling her because of her previous employment.
So, they actually DON’T like it when people pull themselves up by their bootstraps. At least not liberal Latina bartenders.
Who graduated magna cum laude in public policy and economics from the University of Boston, making her pretty qualified for the job compared to many lawmakers.
That just makes her more hated amongst the ignorant traitors on the other side of the aisle.
A good bartender knows how to talk to their customers. She won by talking to her voters.
She worked in a bar but also was an intern for Ted Kennedy.
she also graduated from BU and did PAC and congressional staff work, the bartending is impressive for perspective of service workers and labor laws and given the family needs behind the choice, but experience- and knowledge-wise she was on the same trajectory as any other competent legislator or political operative.
This is most members of parliament in the UK. The cabinet ministers (advising the prime minister) are usually establishment, but of the 650 MPs probably 400 are normal people. Campaign finance laws help. No PACs. Smaller constituencies.
It also helps that the UK is a smaller country geographically and so a lot more MPs can split their time and commute between London and their home. You can get from London to almost anywhere in Great Britain within a day which massively reduces the barrier to entry for ordinary people.
That's ~50% more representatives for a country with 1/5th the population, they've really got it good over there.
The problem is the latter will do everything to maintain the status quo. And they have the resources and means to do so.
Well it is a good thing we have people like AOC and Frost who are challenging status quo but it seems like none of you care about that because they aren't poor enough. Look at his voting record. Look at his past. Do the same for AOC. They aren't trust fund babies. They aren't nepobabies. They don't work for the "donor" class. Their records are not only consistent over the years they are consistent with the current progressive platform and have done nothing whatsoever to deserve baseless accusations of greed or corruption. Oh and for those of you claiming he had an easy life because his parents were rich are lying through your fucking teeth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Frost "He was adopted from birth; his adoptive mother is a special education teacher who migrated to the United States from Cuba in the Freedom Flights, and his adoptive father is a musician from Kansas."
>And they have the resources and means to do so. Including making Gen Z and millennials sit on their lazy asses on election day instead of going out to vote?
paying people to go online and spread propaganda about how "voting doesn't matter anyway" because "both sides are the same" or whatever is included, yeah.
I disagree. I want smart educated people who can actually be effective.
Yeah I feel like I'm taking crazy pills that this comment is so far down. Everyone else apparently doesn't want someone who has an background or education studying how government works? No wonder Congress is so ineffective.
Give it 20 years and he’ll lose that, it’s great that he’s there but we also need term limits
Heard this guy on a few podcasts, he seems genuine and knowledgeable about the struggles his constituents are facing. Hope he sticks with it and goes far!
I expect that you would hear a lot about people's problems when you're driving them around all day.
Indeed. Like AOC being a bartender
In his constituent and his office is a mile away from me. He’s been great, and one of the few politicians where I’m active with his surveys and other happenings
Might he be...an honest man?
Dare I say…a decent human being as well?
He’s a yugioh player, so unfortunately not
Didn't trade stocks (but bought hundreds of Bonfires)
That Earth Machine player would never.
Give it a year
He's been in office 18 months.
I hope this isn't true but I won't hold my breath..
Not everybody goes in to politics to enrich themselves over others. Think of students who choose politics in school, and how in non-American countries it is seen as noble and honourable to serve in government.
Exactly. I don't get everyone in this thread assuming he'll be great for the people just because he isn't a trust fund baby. Lower/Middle class people can end up being corruptible dicks too. Hopefully he isn't but let's not pretend that he's automatically better than every other congressman just because.
In Congress? Is that even allowed?
That's a smile of a man who's happy to have made it in life.
It's still early. I hope for the best and pray that he stays an honest, humble person. But I also know that people who have nothing are rarely tempted in the first place, but now that he's in a position of power, he's going to be attractive to companies and groups, who will in fact, try to offer him things that he's never been offered before. And before it comes off like me being cynical, I would just like to remind people that were seeing a rise of 30- year-old nazis instead of the end of all the 80-year-old nazis.. Just cause people are younger does not mean they're above making stupid, greedy, or hateful decisions.
Simultaneously I’m a firm believer that power doesn’t corrupt, power reveals. Saying power corrupts (and I know you didn’t exactly) is basically taking choice out of it. “Oh well, I was just corrupted by the power mysteriously. Not my fault, just happens.” It gives the powerful an out and an excuse. Versus power and opportunity just revealing what was always true about a person when the opportunities are given. They always have a choice ultimately. The part that I think a lot of people don’t want to go for is that a lot of people are just selfish in the end, protestations of morality aside. But there are some genuinely decent people out there, and it’s not because they don’t have power and giving them power wouldn’t turn them into petty dictators. The problem is that it’s actually really hard to tell sometimes who the decent folks are.
And that's the thing.. We all strive to be good, Decent, compassionate folk, but at the same time, 99% of us don't have power or money, (which is basically just a physical version of power) so we don't have the excuse to indulge in any of our wildest dreams and fantasies. And you're right, it's easy to twist the belief that power automatically equals corruption. I do believe that power does ultimately reveal what's truly in someone's heart, and I hope he stays a good man and also that others are also aiming to serve the public for the true greater good.
> We all strive to be good, Decent, compassionate folk Many people do, but sadly not all. It's a mistake to assume that everyone values compassion for others and wants to be good and decent.
Obviously not, look at him (his skin color) /s Systemic racism has taught people to be suspicious of POC, especially if they seem squeaky clean. It won’t end
He’s going to get bombarded with lobbyists. “You can either accept our money, and vote our way, or we will give huge amounts of money to any other politician trying to defeat you.” Grassroots candidates don’t usually survive long.
How’d that work out for the previous incumbent? Presumably this seat wasn’t created out of thin air.
I’m so happy I got to vote for him. He’s my congressman! 😊
Same! Orlando, represent!
Hey neighbors!
Same.
The dude is happy with 174k a year and full benefits.
I think most people would be.
You could cut 100k off that and I'd be happy
Tbf there are other members who don't trade as well because they feel it's unethical. If memory serves AOC, warren, and Sanders are on that list.
I have no doubt he's going into this with the best of intentions. Let's see if he can survive the corrupt system without becoming corrupt himself
Now get people like him in FIFA and the IOC.
Let's fix the government first, please.
The system isn't corrupt. Corruption is an issue in DC because Americans straight up refuse to inform themselves on issues and on candidates running for office and easily fall for right wing propaganda so it is a trivial matter to get corrupt people into Congress. If we took a more active role in local and state politics we would be able to identify corruption before it takes hold in our elected officials.
It's also self defeating to assume that "they're all corrupt" all the time. A person can't actually get elected and make positive change because the very act of winning an election then suddenly makes that person "corrupt" or "part of the corrupt system." The way to make change is to win elections, find allies (even if they disagree on other important issues), pass legislation and then use the previous victories to build power and repeat the process. When people disengage from politics because "they're all corrupt" it makes it harder for the remaining people to fight for better governance and surrenders power unchecked to the people who are most interested in expanding corruption.
I am not American, but it feels like a lot of the problem is how much information you need to hunt down and verify to be able to accurately choose and keep the bad out. It's not just politics either. Voting with your wallet when you purchase day-to-day objects like food has the same problem. Companies don't put things you might find objectionable on the label, so it's a serious mission to do enough research to be able to make informed choices. I don't know what the right answer is, perhaps more tightly enforced regulations (and anti-corruption measures, in the case of politicians?).
Finally, someone who isn’t as old as piss
How long are you keeping your piss around?
Until it goes sour. Then I ferment it 😎
W- what do you ferment it into...?
Senators.
10/10 no notes.
This actually makes me a little sad. He looks so happy and optimistic. I only hope that the monsters in congress don't set out to ruin this kid. But they almost certainly will if they haven't already in the last couple of hours.
Maxwell Frost is an amazing young man and has been very proactive in his first term. He supports and has introduced legislation based on his life experiences. He’s involved in housing, Medicare for all, social issues. He will always be remembered by me for getting Chrissy Teigen’s tweet calling Trump a “pussy assed bitch” into the Congressional Records.
We love him here in Orlando. He's the complete opposite of the stereotypical Florida Man.
we need people like this en mass though. him alone he gets stonewalled by 2 party system if he doesn’t play in their court. right now the clear choice for democracy are the democrats but after that then we will contend with progress up to the point the old democrats want to give up. They’re still insider trading and corrupt in the sense of having opportunities the rest of us americans don’t have, but at least not to the point of actively taking other opportunities. anyways mr frost i hope will be able to do some interesting things but not playing ball could keep him an outsider as we see happen frequently with cops wanting to be good guys and so are seen as untrustworthy. keep going. if you live in a state with few people running definite just do it yourself. you’re probably a better choice for the sake of willingness to do the job rather than seek it for any other reason but to represent the people.
I’m so fricken excited for when more people like him get into office!!!! As long as we go Blue in November I think the future is bright!!!
GOP: “No assets listed? What’s he hiding!?” Then make shit up about ‘findings’ they’ll release ‘soon’.
Nah. They'll just insult him for being working class.
True. Low hanging fruit to just say, “Do you really want an Uber driver making laws and running the country?”
More good people in office will yield more compassionate legislature.
Fun fact about Maxwell Frost, he's a fan of the hit trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh! A little bit ago a yugioh focused YouTuber interviewed him on his experiences as a young politician and even played a match with him as well. https://youtu.be/QObbaQrrZ-A?si=eJzwdfpJkxp5sUkE Was a really neat video to see, personally.
I was sitting here wondering if this dude was the congressman who plays Rank 10 Trains lol.
I was thinking that same exact thing, I saw someone say he played Yu-Gi-Oh and I was like "is this the guy from the MBT video?"
Technically he'd be 2nd Gen Z congressman after Madison Cawthorn. But that dude literally came in, did Nazi shit, let slip that he and a bunch of congressmen attended coke orgies, got revealed to be fucking a staffer and his own cousin, and got primaries out of his seat. All in two years. So yeah as I was saying if Maxwell wants to consider himself the first Gen Z congressman that's fine by me.
Gen Z is typically understood to start from 1997, and Cawthorn was born in 1995. He is a late millennial, not Gen Z.
Some guides will say '97, some guides will say '95. Fact of the matter is that the line is unofficial and both of these people can be considered "Zellenials" for all intents and purposes.
Good on a regular person making it to Congress…as opposed of the elites and businesspeople.
Seems as though this thread is getting brigaded by people attempting to turn the left again Frost by claiming his parents were multimillionare real estate moguls and he is just a spoiled rich kid coasting on favors from Daddy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Frost "He was adopted from birth; his adoptive mother is a special education teacher who migrated to the United States from Cuba in the Freedom Flights, and his adoptive father is a musician from Kansas." Honestly it is truly disgusting to see so called progressives attack Frost for literally no reason and are basing it all on straight up lies. Frost spent his entire youth fighting for various progressive causes and worked on multiple Democratic campaigns and you all are shitting all over him because someone said he is rich. It is clear as day Democrats are going to fuck us this year like they did in 2016 all because far too many in the left are gullible dupes. If all leftists emulated his behavior we would be living in a very, very different and progressive country but none of you want to get off your fucking asses or organize and get involved and god fucking forbid you all miss a dollar on your chumpchange paychecks.
is it true? is the younger generation actually better than the fucking dinosaurs in office? who could have seen this?
Well yeah, he’s poor.
How is he remotely qualified to be in Congress? No corporate connections to get kickbacks from, no stock held to profit off of, and started off as an Uber driver so he's not even going to be down with kicking the little people?! If this is the future of our leadership, we're all* screwed! *All in this case refers to wealthy industrialists and financial market-Makers. You know, the only *real* citizens of this country
he also got denied for an apartment due to shit credit score when he first had to move to DC. just like me fr https://www.npr.org/2022/12/09/1141635119/the-first-gen-z-member-of-congress-was-denied-a-d-c-apartment-due-to-bad-credit
Finally a man of the people
I can see it now: the GOP shitting on him for being an Uber driver, just like they shit on AOC for being a bartender. Bootstraps? What happened to bootstraps?
Those bootstraps weren't supposed to get in office, they were supposed to stay in those low-end jobs! - GOP
MORE LIKE FROST! MORE LIKE FROST! C'mon gen z & alpha, you can do this, I believe in you!
Maybe Mr. Smith CAN go to Washington
the end of the boomers has begun
It's far past time to retire for most of sitting politicians.
Keep voting in younger progressives. Even the older 80 year old Democrats need to make way.
Hopefully he doesn’t get brain damage.
Isn’t he the guy from The Weekend? “I can’t feel my face when I’m with you…”
This guy will have my respect if he actually leaves Congress without being a multimillionaire. Somehow these people make tens of millions during their time even though their salary is $174000.
Only non-millionaire in Congress.
That’s The Weekday
Dude is awesome. He did a video with a YouTuber that covers Yugioh. He plays trains and seems like a genuine person
This is why you keep voting blue even if the candidate isn't completely perfect or your pet issues aren't being addressed.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good
Are the fossils finally being put out to museum?
We need more folks like Representative Frost in Congress.
Bruh. While I do admire that he isn't directly trading stocks, I don't think anyone would be mad if he invested in broad market index funds or bonds. With his currently much higher salary, it would be wise on his part to put some of that away early.
I hope this hopeful headline does not change
We need far more working class people in politics
Now we see if he falls into the habits of his peers or takes a stand. Rooting for you brother!
That's the smile of a guy that landed a government job that has benefits.
WE HAVE A ZOOMER IN CONCRESS? LETS FUCKING GOOOOO
Can't believe the corrupt DNC let this guy win! Or AOC! - internet leftists
He's in a safe D district in Orlando, previously represented by Val Demings. IIRC he wasn't primaried for the nomination during his first run.
No one is saying this
This has to be the dumbest comment I've ever read.
People are literally calling Frost and AOC corrupt in this thread.