January 26, 2007
I would like to encourage the Commission to give serious consideration to proposals by Roel Campos which would serve to broaden investor access to Hedge Funds in a deliberate and gradual way. There is no intrinsic reason to deny access to major investment opportunities at an arbitrary dollar net worth threshold as the world has its share of poor-but-smart or wealthy-but-dumb investors who are ill-served by such distinctions.
The function of regulation is to create disincentives for bad behavior and incentives for good behavior. The core responsibility of the Commission in connection with the regulation of the Hedge Fund industry is to ensure that investors have adequate information and insight into the risks they undertake by investing. If that fundamental responsibility can be met while removing arbitrary barriers, then that is a constructive direction for public policy and should be embraced by the Commission.