Did you get your FaceBook pre-IPO stock yet? No?

Well of course if you’re not worth $1 million or made $200k ($300k joint) over the past few years they wouldn’t be able to sell it to you anyway, because under Rule 501 Schedule D of the SEC you have to be an ‘Accredited Investor’ because otherwise you’re stupid or too poor to take the risk – government knows best you know.

So here’s what generally happens. The door is shut on John & Jane Q Public but the ‘well healed’, connected and those in the game (brokerage, hedge funds, etc) get the offering for a fraction and then they sit back and watch as it runs…probably to $100 or more. Then they sell all or part of it and make several times their investment. Johnny and Janey of course jump in on the resale paying close to the high price and take a bath all the way down.

You remember the ‘soak the rich’ slogan to get the John & Jane Publics of the early 20th century to jump on board for Fed Reserve and SEC regulations, well here’s the result of those regulations. The struggling hard working small business owner, tradesman, teacher, etc are shut out while the connected get the goodies as the game is rigged. Oh and if we have a crisis, of course government will need to pass the cost onto the disconnected. The Left cries, “Business is corrupt and we need government to protect us” and the Right cries, “Government is corrupt and we need to protect (big) business and create markets for it”, but the voices of both of those schools have been cutting in line to get ‘myz’ leading up to Friday’s open.

In an upcoming article I’m writing, “The Government of FAVEAA”, (fa-Vee-ah) which is an acronym for ‘Free And Voluntary Exchange And Association’, we’ll show why Left and Right politics are in fact similar and that ‘Free Market’  is not synonymous with ‘Self Government’ as many pundits and politicians believe. It is the friction of the market (deciding who/what to associate and trade with) that produces the best results of marginalizing bad behavior while promoting good. This is done in a rational way – bottom up and not in an irrational way – top down (Platonic Model).

The irony of the stock going public is that while FaceBook appears to offer a ‘voice’ to the common man who drives FB profits on his personal information, it is the common man that stands outside behind the velvet chain with the bouncer.
 

Christopher M. Mahon, Editor