Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Entrepreneurs Watch As Crowdvesting Bill Stalls In Senate

Posted by timothy on from the please-fill-out-form-1099-qed dept.

cayenne8 writes "The JOBS Act bill, passed in the house, has stalled in the senate. One section of this bill, which would legalize 'Crowdsourcing' in the U.S., as it is in other countries, allowing companies and startups (like indie film makers) to solicit investments for profit over the internet. This differs from sites like Kickstarter, which allow you to only donate money, in that this bill will allow the common citizen to invest for potential profit ($10K or 10% of income for investor limits) in new ideas and companies."

4 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. When was it made illegal? by cpu6502 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why was Profiting from Crowdsourcing a movie, song, or book made illegal? And when did it happen.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
    1. Re:When was it made illegal? by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Crowdsourcing in general is illegal because of hucksters tricking people out of their investment dollars.

      Right. There is a long, long history of investment scams, from John Law's bank to Florida real estate to "High Yield Investment Plans. The current big scam thing is "distressed real estate". That's why we have SEC registration and mandatory disclosures. Here are some recent scams of that type.

      "Crowdfunding" is about selling unregistered securities to individuals. This usually ends badly.

      If anything, the rules on who is a "qualified investor" and can invest in private placements should be tightened up. At present, pension funds are considered "qualified investors", which means they can invest in hedge funds. That didn't work out too well around 2008.

  2. Scam? by koan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Of course, supporters don’t describe it that way. They say the JOBS Act — for Jumpstart our Business Startups — would remove burdensome regulations that they claim have made it too difficult for companies to raise money from investors, impeding their ability to grow and hire.

    Never mind that reams of Congressional testimony, market analysis and academic research have shown that regulation has not been an impediment to raising capital. In fact, too little regulation has been at the root of all recent bubbles and bursts — the dot-com crash, Enron, the mortgage meltdown. Those free-for-alls created jobs and then imploded, causing mass joblessness. "
    https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/washington-has-a-very-short-memory.html?_r=3&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  3. Outdated information by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57402589-92/jobs-act-clears-senate-one-step-from-becoming-law/

    The JOBS Act has passed the Senate. In a 73 to 26 vote today, an amended version of H.R. 3606, which opens startup investing to individuals ("crowdfunding") and gives young companies more flexibility in filing to enter the public stock markets, cleared what is probably its last major hurdle before becoming law.

    I'm really surprised that it passed the Senate as the JOBS act is chock full of poorly thought out deregulation.
    It's so bad that the head of the SEC has come out against it and State securities regulators are against the bill

    If this bill becomes law, it'll directly lead to the next wave of investor fraud.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!