It's true that buying shares in any new offering is risky. It's true that celeb endorsements can convince some otherwise careful people to behave riskily. It's

It's true that buying shares in any new offering is risky. It's true that celeb endorsements can convince some otherwise careful people to behave riskily. It's true that selling shares in a decent index fund to buy shares in an initial offering is risky. And people should be careful. (duh.) It's a good reason to be skeptical of stuff like celeb endorsements and guarantees of resturns. But there's another side to the SEC regulation system. It has been captured by the industry it's supposed to regulate. It serves the existing investment industry very well, and main street investors not so much (witness the Madoff mess). The tonnage of legal work required to meet the regulations raises a barrier to entry to new players. Google, in their IPO, managed to innovate in this area. But they already had a lot of political clout. It would be helpful if there were ways to expand access.