Its not foolish when you get paid nickles and dimes. IN Europe, every student wants to go to switzerland for work. Do you know why, its because they get paid fair.Why does the walton family need enough money for the next five generations? Thats Feudalism not capitalism.
This is not a free country, to start a business you have to be an "accredited investor".
It is basically just a financial threshold. For individual investors, you need a net worth of $1 million (alone or with spouse) OR annual income of $200,000 (or $300,000 in joint income with spouse) in the two most recent years, with an expectation that you will continue to earn that this year.
From the SEC website
http://www.sec.gov/answers/accre..., an Accredited Investor is defined as one of the following:
a bank, insurance company, registered investment company, business development company, or small business investment company;
an employee benefit plan, within the meaning of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, if a bank, insurance company, or registered investment adviser makes the investment decisions, or if the plan has total assets in excess of $5 million;
a charitable organization, corporation, or partnership with assets exceeding $5 million;
a director, executive officer, or general partner of the company selling the securities;
a business in which all the equity owners are accredited investors;
a natural person who has individual net worth, or joint net worth with the person’s spouse, that exceeds $1 million at the time of the purchase.
a natural person with income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years and a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year; or
a trust with assets in excess of $5 million, not formed to acquire the securities offered, whose purchases a sophisticated person makes.
Most people don't have that kind of money.
One more thing, Have you ever been to a marine corp ball? Enlisted marines celebrated together, with no officers.