An Open Letter to President Obama

In 2008, my husband and I both contributed time and money to your election campaign. I'm very hesitant to do so again, primarily because of the JOBS (Jump-start Our Business Start-ups) Act. Among other things, this legislation lifts Securities and Exchange Commission restrictions on running advertisements soliciting new investors and permits “crowdfunding,” so that entrepreneurs can raise equity capital from large pools of small (and often naive) investors. Small, private companies would be able to sell up to $50 million in shares as part of a public offering without having to register with the SEC, and could have as many as 1,000 shareholders, up from the current cap of 500. The bottom line would be to allow Wall Street investment houses to slice and dice small businesses the same way they did to mortgage loans. What could possibly go wrong?

This pernicious piece of legislation (which should be re-named the Jackals Out-Bid Society Act) will remove these and other safeguards that have been put into place to keep Wall Street from picking the pockets of the American People. The only possible reason you could have for signing it would be to raise money from these mega-thieves, and if you do so, you certainly won't need any support from me this time around. I would hate to see Mitt Romney win the Presidential election, but what does it matter if it's only a contest between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum?