Comment by SCB@lemmy.world on Not exactly helping the proles.

Politicians are owned by their constituents, who they overwhelmingly vote in alignment with.

The whole “politicians are owned” thing just doesn’t show up in any data whatsoever.

Take one look at who the biggest lobbyists in the US are. Then compare that to the most glaring issues we have in the US. I’ll wait.

Here’s a link of the top US lobbies, and I’ll go ahead and spoil that it isn’t what you’d think - for instance, no energy lobby makes the list.

Also, you’d think actual votes would be more along lobbyist lines than constituent lines but they are not.

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders

NAR for instance would absolutely love zoning changes that create more homes to sell. That’s a lobby we should listen to.

But again, we don’t, because getting re-elected is always of paramount importance.

You’re joking right? https://www.statista.com/statistics/257364/top-lobbying-industries-in-the-us/

From your own source. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/02/oil-and-gas-industry-spent-124-4-million-on-federal-lobbying-amid-record-profits-in-2022/#:~:text=The oil and gas industry,slightly when adjusted for inflation.

And for you last point about NAR, I have doubts. I could see home builders and home buyers benefitting from zoning changes. It would drive down costs of a new home, open up more choices for home buyers, and put construction companies to work. Realtors are middle men who work off commissions. The more they can sell a house for the more commission they make. Realtors have a vested interest keeping the market balanced in their favor.

Realtors with more property to sell make more than realtors with less property to sell. Do you know actual realtors? The vast majority are not selling a few multi-million houses and calling it a year.

Look at what they lobby for: https://www.nar.realtor/advocacy/federal-advocacy/all-federal-issues

A recent NAR study estimates that the U.S. has developed an “underbuilding gap” of at least 5.5 million housing units over the last 20 years. This translates into more than $4 trillion in underinvestment in housing. Even relatively modest steps taken now to reduce this gap will unleash tremendous economic activity and create millions of new jobs.

Multi-family housing proposals are a core plank of their program, for instance - and yet politicians don’t listen to them because their constituents don’t want them to

I’m not sure what you think you’re arguing when you call me out my link then share data that agrees with my link.

Your preconceived notions are incorrect, and lying about data doesn’t make it correct

Yes I do. None of them are selling affordable single family homes.

As a matter of fact multi-family housing is leading a housing construction “boom” as of articles published 6 days ago.

Here’s a quote from MReport:

Further, almost two-thirds of the apartments build during the pandemic are clustered in just 20 high-growth metropolitan areas, which make up about 41% of the total renter population in the U.S. Therefore, for many other places, the new supply barely made a dent in the existing supply. What’s more, around 89% of the apartments completed in the last three years are high-end and, thus, target upper-middle- and high-income buyers and renters.

So they are building “multi-family homes”, but targeting, wait for it, people with lot’s of money.

So you quit lying.

Come to think of it, you’re singling out the and focusing on the real estate angle pretty hard. Why is that?

It doesn’t matter who they’re targeting, because they’re increasing supply

You’re so desperate to have all lobbyists be inherently bad that you’re not thinking things through.

Real estate is easy because local ordinances prevent building, and congresspeople are held accountable locally. We can discuss any lobbying if you’d like and are willing to learn.

I’m a climate lobbyist, for example.

I’m curious as to how being a politician is even a job? Do they get salary? If so, from what? How do they pay their mortgages?

Politicians are almost all paid (some things like city council aren’t necessarily paid). Many politicians have “day jobs” they only leave once they reach a level of office where they can live off the pay.

Speaking very broadly, the cutoff is generally “state rep or higher” or “in a big city” where you can lean on politician as your main source of income.

I like how “day job” is in quotes. That makes it seem even sketchier than I originally thought lol

what kind of “day jobs” are we talking about here? Are they in an office?

And yeah, how do they have time to be a politician if they have that day job going?

I’ve worked with local politicians in office settings, as salespeople (trained a city councilwoman as a saleswoman once), etc. They also sometimes own businesses (a bit of selection bias there because that “plays” really well to the electorate).

Most political jobs that aren’t state/federal arent very demanding of time. School board, local government, etc, is generally unpaid/low pay and very much part time. If you can carve a couple nights a week, you can work in local gov.

They also sometimes own businesses

Ah yeah. The kind of people who already had money to start a business in the first place.

If you can carve a couple nights a week, you can work in local gov.

That seems like not nearly enough time to be putting into something that is meant to change how things work. Government is incredibly slow though, I’m aware…

None of this is making them sound… well better.

Most people start a business via a small business loan, which is surprisingly easy (in my view) to qualify for. You also only need like $50 in my state to register as a business owner.

Lots of relatively poor people own their own business. I ran my own consultancy for a while and I was definitely not rich.

Couple nights a week is plenty when you’re on city council for a town of 10,000 people. There aren’t that many hearings

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Not exactly helping the proles.(lemmy.world)

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