October 30, 2013
This law does nothing for the individual, the everyday person who goes to work and comes home with enough to eat dinner, take his wife out once every week or so, and play a games before bed. These people like myself, who live poor, who must either do everything we can to suck the government dry or be bled to death by the feeding of it, are tired of self-destructive legislation.
Many of us that participate in crowdfunding are not wealthy individuals, but when someone demonstrates a capacity to deliver a product not otherwise available, that resonates with us, we are willing to take a calculated risk to see it become available. If it does come to fruition as planned, we are treated most of the time with a product that we could otherwise not afford, or reconcile.
By the deferring the receipt of the product for a year or two, we are able to help shape its development and receive it at a discount had it come at retail price. For example: I am interested in a game. This game will take two years to make, and will be made by someone who in my judgement is capable of delivering. So I volunteer some money, usually less than the same product would cost if I were to buy it off the shelf. Then I get to follow along as I see the development of my product, give feedback, and save a few dollars in the long run. I may tell my friends about it, which drops a few more bucks into the project, making it a little bit better at no cost to me How amazing is that This little principle is probably the single most exciting aspect of crowdfunding.
When like-minded individuals band together to bring an otherwise unavailable product to market, one tailored explicitly to their needs and desires, the resources that are marshaled allow for some really amazing products, at a price point otherwise impossible. Every person that purchases the product makes the product a little better for everyone else, because unlike companies that have large overhead, nearly all the money pledged goes directly into the development of and improvement of that product. That improvement draws in even more funding and interest.
What this legislation proposes undermines the most powerful and exciting aspect of crowdfunding, by preventing large quantities of pledgers. Not only that, but had it been in place a year ago it would also have prevented the best projects that I am now the most excited about, and proud to have been a part of. Please don't let our fat and bloated government poison one of the last watering holes as we trudge onward to hell.