Posted on 05/27/2008 7:32:22 PM PDT by mukraker
You scrimp, you save, you try to invest. You try to set a little aside every month, try to make wise investments.
But when savings accounts barely pay 1%, and municipal bonds paying 3%, where can you get a decent, safe return on your money?
One of my local financial businesses is paying a guaranteed 9% on your money. But you can’t invest there, by law, unless you have a documented income of at least $200,000 a year, or a net worth of at least a million dollars.
The same story with a new solar energy technology company, that promises to revolutionize the solar energy industry, bringing the cost of solar energy down to a level on par with coal fired power plants. It has public stock for sale – in England. U.S. investors are prohibited from investing in this Iowa-based Delaware corporation.
And the irony of this one is that it was U.S. taxpayer dollars that funded the start-up of this company four years ago.
Going back in history for a second, don’t you wish you could have invested in Microsoft in 1983? This solar energy company has similar potential for investors. Only you can’t invest in the company, thanks to the UI.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Under the terms of Rule 144A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, unless you meet the requirements, you cannot invest in these higher-yield investments.
Big Brother thinks you’re too dumb to do your homework before you invest. They’d rather force you to trust them, to trust some anonymous investment broker, to put your faith in an expert to spend, I mean invest, your money for you. After all, you don’t know that a 9% return is better than a 3% or a 1% return on your money.
Maybe this rule made sense in 1933. But in an age of instant communication, in a time when information is available with just a few mouse clicks on your computer, most people are smart enough to do their homework before they invest.
Under this SEC rule, only people who have already acquired wealth are eligible to acquire more of it. Those of us who are still building our fortunes are prohibited, by law, from investing in these higher-yield investments.
The only way this can be changed is if Congress takes action, to allow the rest of us to take advantage of these opportunities when they come along. Every Congressman says they’re “fighting” for the little guy. The problem is, most Members of Congress don’t qualify as “the little guy” any more. They aren’t affected by this law.
This is one situation where Congress can prove how much they really care for “the little guy.” Congress needs to take another look at this law, and change it, to allow the rest of us access to the same investment opportunities available to wealthy Americans.
I know it’s cliché, but this really is a case where the rich get richer, the poor stay in the poorhouse. By law.
Most people who rant against rule 144A do not understand why it was put in place. Nor do they understand the SELLING restrictions of such securities. 144A securities are not as liquid as regular stocks.
Good grief. Buy Permian Basin Trust (PBT: NYSE, paying 1.81 annually -- TRAILING royalties on a 24.10 dollar close) or PennWest, (PWE: NYSE, paying $4.00 annually -- TRAILING royalties on a 33.76 dollar close).
Yes, energy likely will fall at some point. Not while the Regress keep blocking production, though. 144A stuff? Jay-ZUS!
Why would anyone buy penny stocks either? This particular company has a proven product. I see potential here, and want to invest. You don’t have to. But I want the freedom to do so.
I’m not looking to sell. I want this company as a long term investment, buy and hold. I see real long term potential here. They already have a proven product being bought in large quantities by the U.S. military and NASA.
Go for it, mate. If you're sufficiently keen about it, there will always be a way. I still question your rationale, but, hey, it's your capital, not mine.
Just one more way that “enlightened” liberals seek to maintain their postion at the top of the food chain by exploiting and keeping dwn the rest of us.
Why shouldn’t I be allowed toinvest i this stock if I do my research and decide that that is what I want to do?
And f it’s for sale in England, coul I invest in a British mutual fund that owns it?
What’s the name of this company?
supposedly!
fdlskjffjeo?
Thanks.....I’ll pass it on to my brother. But I might take my time doing so....say, after November.
With a 'Rat president, Hitlery or Osamabama,, she will probably succeed in the upcoming term after January. With McQueeg, who is for all intents and purposes a 'Rat, but at least (on his record so far) a generally anti-tax 'Rat, she might not.
My advice to your brother? Start moving assets offshore, in very small increments, $1000-2000-3000 at a time. And do NOT wait around for the hammer to fall.
Just my thoughts on the matter. No guarantees attached as to accuracy.
FReegards to you!
If you fancy the stock, then buy it. I believe that, once goobermint starts taxing retirement accounts (which it will, sooner or later), that we are going to see an absolute orgy of stock speculation, in the attempt to beat out the goobermint. Do please remember, though, that penny stocks sell for pennies for a REASON.
As Billy Joel once noted: ''You may be right, I may be crazy'', but the only truly crazy attitude of which I'm aware is trusting in ''modern'' (cough) statist goobermint to keep its word.
Up to you, m'friend. Good luck to you!
Usually, unfortunately, goobermint dipwads are the only people allowed to trade in that mkt....sigh!
FReegards!
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