The Deregulation Bill That’s Drawing Crowds : NPR
n the same month that President Obama’s Supercommittee failed to rise above partisanship for the sake of America’s economy, a hyper-partisan House of Representatives managed a landslide victory.
The vote was 407 to 18 in favor of the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act. If passed, it would allow entrepreneurs to crowdfund. That means they could raise money over the Internet through relatively small donations from people they don’t know. The bill removes barriers to doing business - but this time for the little guy.
Deregulation That Helps Small Businesses
The bill heads to the Senate next. It currently allows business owners to raise up to $2 million from an unlimited number of individuals who can invest as much as $10,000 each.
Right now, all sorts of do-gooder causes get donations through engines like Kickstarter.com. But because of a securities law born of the Great Depression to prevent fraud, for-profit businesses can’t ask strangers to invest.
Congressman Patrick McHenry introduced the bill. “What we’re doing is changing a regulation, eliminating a regulation, so that you can let capitalism be free in this country,” he said at a small victory rally last week.