comment: >
  
  The further from “reasonable” your anchor the less likely it is to work.  I put reasonable in quotes because often (but certainly in this scenario) what is reasonable is very subjective.  However, my sense is that the 5mil will prove this be a mistake in hindsight because I think it will make independent people less likely to support this and give catalyzing talking points to the right.
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  There is a psychological concept called anchoring.  The short version is that whoever throws out the first number in a negotiation sets the basic parameters for that negotiation and greatly influences the final number that is agreed upon.
  It is very unlikely that they truly expect $5M/person, but by setting the initial bar that high, they can potentially get a higher final figure than if they had gone in with a more reasonable number off the bat.  Now, this could backfire and they could get dismissed entirely for being unreasonable, but that is a risk you take in negotiations.
  So, it isn't whacky if this is part of a broader negotiation strategy. >
  
  This is a fair point and I was thinking about this. But I don't think in this case proposing a wildly high figure in hopes of negotiating down to a lower figure but one that's higher than it would have been is a great strategy. 
  But !delta because it could be a strategy even if it does backfire (which I think is likely, especially given how much power conservatives have right now.) >
  
  Time will tell if it is a good strategy or not.
  It does influence the conversation, though.  Pretty much everyone in the negotiating room will be basing their offers on how much less than $5M they are, and that is the power of anchoring.  It becomes the baseline from which you determine the reasonableness of your counter. >
  
  Does that approach usually work though? If I'm negotiating with somebody and I throw out a ridiculous number and then a really high but not as ridiculous one do they say "well compared to the ridiculous one..." Or do they say "this guy is full of crap and I don't trust him, no deal."
  The psychology is very interesting to me, but I'm wondering how often it really works.