[ethbr0]

> Is there a conflict of interest? Only if the appointee was appointed by the other party. I argue that the apparent conflict of interest is only surface level. In the US we don't have "capitalism", we have "crony capitalism" that is verging on technocracy (rule of The Science and unelected bureaucrats).

There is no such thing as capitalism separate from democracy, with a government that performs many functions.

It's not crony capitalism or technocracy. It's just normal capitalism in a democracy. Same way it has been since the founding of the United States.

> The kinds of people who make those decisions are paid very well

Are they? GS tops out at around $170k https://www.generalschedule.org/ . And S/ES at around $220k https://www.federalpay.org/ses/2022 .

That's a good salary. But it's not necessarily something I'd feel comfortable going to sleep with, knowing they had a finger on the scales of millions of dollars, if there weren't watchdog and mitigation measures in place.