As the comment by 'pja' highlights, most of the restrictions to such an approach are legal.
The least restricted market in this regards is the United Kingdom where there are quite a few businesses in the crowdfunding/peer-to-peer lending space already - for equity funding see Seedrs[1] and Crowdcube[2].There's even instances of SMEs raising equity from the public directly e.g. Brewdog[3].
The UK regulator (FCA) is just catching up so things may change next year[4].
on the "less selfish" nature of individual capitalism, I simply mean that our economic actions when we deal with our own money are often motivated by many considerations other than the purely economic. Kickstarter is an excellent example of this.
But when I act as a fiduciary responsible for investing someone else's money, I have to maximise economic return by law.
By allowing the masses to invest in small businesses, we obviously allow them to participate in the economic returns from these businesses. But we also allow them to express their more charitable altruistic goals within a well-developed framework where they can be more confident that their money is being put to good use. If nothing else, as an owner I am entitled to receive regular audited financial reports.
The least restricted market in this regards is the United Kingdom where there are quite a few businesses in the crowdfunding/peer-to-peer lending space already - for equity funding see Seedrs[1] and Crowdcube[2].There's even instances of SMEs raising equity from the public directly e.g. Brewdog[3].
The UK regulator (FCA) is just catching up so things may change next year[4].
[1]: http://www.seedrs.com/ [2]: http://www.crowdcube.com/ [3]: http://www.brewdog.com/equityforpunks [4]: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/03/britain-crowdfundi...?