Forum Post: A proposal to fix congress

Now that the super committee has failed, and everyone it totally disgusted with congress, here is my list of changes to fix the system. This fix is based on the relatively interesting observation that most members of congress become quite wealthy by the end of their careers even if they did not start out wealthy. All of this wealth is accumulated from corrupt investment advice and other indirect bribes. Here is the fix:

The stick 1) All congressmen are required to keep investments in a blind trust 2) Investments from the trust get disclused regularly 3) An independent panel will have the power to order the repayment of any profit that in any way appears to be aimed at biasing a member's vote on a bill 4) Criminal prosecution for insider trading and acceptance of any form of bribe--just as is the case for anyone else.

The carrot: 1) Increase the annual salary of members of congress to $1,000,000/yr. 2) Incentive bonuses given out based on the quality of legislation passed 3) Include rewards to retired members for past contributions--a Nobel prize for influential bills

The purpose of the second part is to ensure that members of congress can become wealthy without accepting bribes. This will substantially reduce their temptation.