The problem with making my own decisions? I might make a mistake.
That’s not good for me, is it?
So what you government boys ought to do is make me scrape and bow and beg for permission. Make me fill out more forms, struggle with invasive new privacy-invading requirements. Make it super-hard to comply — so I give up before I do anything … ill-considered.
That way, you prevent me from taking actions that might just possibly go badly — like investing my own hard-earned money the way I want to.
The SEC is seriously considering meeting this demand.
Give it to me good and hard, SEC!
But let me clarify. By “me” I mean every small independent investor. By “give it to me” I mean “don’t give it to me.”
Don’t do what Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton and other SEC commissioners are considering: imposing a regulation to “effectively ban many middle-class investors from buying mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.”
Don’t make it lots harder to use the Robinhood app to make certain low-fee or no-fee purchases. Don’t prevent investors from buying funds through discount brokerages and apps like Robinhood unless they first fill out an intrusive questionnaire about their personal finances and pray for permission.
Don’t make us beg to invest.
Don’t.
Stop mulling whether to further harass Americans who want to be free to make their own choices and live their own lives.
Don’t enslave.
Liberate. Laissez nous faire, you condescending thugs.
This Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
—
See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)