The Facebook Securities and Exchange Commission

Silicon Valley elitists meet with the President

WSJ is reporting that "Federal securities regulators are moving toward easing decades-old constraints on share issues by private companies, in a sweeping review that could remake the way American start-ups raise capital."

Uh, yeah, well kinda.

WSJ goes on to give us a clue what this is really all about:

The review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosed in a letter to a lawmaker, could fuel the fast-growing market in private shares of technology firms such as Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Zynga Inc. The steps under consideration would help such privately held companies raise more money without incurring the increased reporting and other requirements of becoming a public company.

According to the letter and people familiar with the matter, the likely changes would include raising from 499 the number of shareholders private companies can have without being required to open their books, and also making it easier for such companies to publicize share offerings.

This isn't about "American start-ups" it's about a crew of Silicon Valley venture capital-funded billionaire elitists walking past the regulations that suffocate every other businessman in America.

I already ID'd these elitists, the exact same crew, when the People's Republic of San Francisco was considering giving them a tax break (The tax break has since gone through). Got that?

San Francisco, the hotbed of Regressive hate for corporations, gave a tax break to favored corporations. The SF tax break went to, among others, Twitter and Zynga. Those two, along with Facebook, are specifically mentioned by WSJ as beneficiaries from any change in SEC regulations which would increase the number of shares that could be traded on private exchanges before filings would be requires with the SEC.

SEC regulations are horrendous, stifling thousands of small corporations from raising money. Those regulations won't go away. It would take too much protection away from Wall Street as the exclusive domain for raising money. Some type of exclusion will be carved into current rules that will benefit the billion dollar operations of Facebook, Twitter and the like, and that's it.

This is really a major elitist power game going on.

It should not come as a surprise that President Obama is holding a "town hall" event at Facebook headquarters. It will include the President speaking with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer.

Zuckerberg appears to be the leader of this elitist crowd.  The picture above comes from the private dinner President Obama had in Silicon Valley in February. Not surprising, Zuckerberg sat right next to the President. Dick Costolo, CEO of  Twitter was also there as was Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Bing Gordon. Kleiner Perkins funded the third company named by WSJ as a beneficiary of any changes in SEC regulations, Zygna.

When the statistics come out showing that the rich are getting richer compared to the rest of us, the Regressives will point to the evils of capitalisim, when it is no such thing. The regulations supported by the Regressives always stay enforce against most of us, suffocating our ability to advance. But, at the same time, those same Regressives will toast and dine with the super-rich that they give breaks to on everything from local city taxes to SEC regulations.

There is nothing wrong with removing the burden of taxes and regulations off the backs of all businesses, but it is an outrage when the elitists are able to work around these regulations, get exemptions for themselves, while the rest of us are hindered at every turn.

Yes, the rich are getting richer in America, while the rest of us suffer, but this is not becasue of free markets, it is becasue the elitists have chosen to eat caviar with the creators of social networks, over eating hot dogs with the trash collector or having a beer with the auto mechanic.

The operator of a small trash collecting firm will be taxed, harassed and regulated as will the owner of a small auto repair shop, while Mark Zuckerberg ends up running the SEC from behind the curtain, so that he and his cronies can layoff paper in their companies without having to put up with the bureaucratic red tape that has stifled small companies for decades.

The controllers of the social networks have become the new elitists largely because of the power they have to communicate  messages. They can start revolutions via tweets, posts or 10 minute videos. In the future they will sway elections and views held on many different topics. This is why the power hungry give these social network corporations breaks.

The breaks will always be couched in terms of helping the little guy. Huh, it is a break for the billionaires who have the power to adjust how a messages goes out, and the power to hold a "town hall" meeting with whomever they choose. This is a power dance between those who have guns and ammo and those who can control by messages. This has nothing to do with us getting a break. It is about the power elite plotting once again and carving up the spoils.