On Monday of this week I was watching Squawk Box on CNBC and Herb Greenberg was making a case that maybe “Companies should not go IPO”. His argument was simple. Going public is a privilege not a right. Why should private committees, Congress or the SEC make it easier for companies to go public? Herb did agree that the rules do make it financially difficult for small companies to meet all of the new requirements but, he argues, “Why should we make it easier?” Herb believes that “If you want to go public there is a cost attached to getting access to the public markets and if you can not afford the cost you have no business going public in the first place.”

Personally, I think Herb needs a reality check. I do believe some of the new rules instituted corrected certain areas that needed to be addressed, but as usual, Congress went way overboard without taking into consideration how it would financially affect public companies, both large and small. I believe we need to adjust the current laws via an exemption for small companies so they can have an opportunity to get into the game. If Herb Greenberg had his way there would be no room for the entrepreneurial companies to ever go public. Think of it this way. Under conditions that exist today would companies like Microsoft and Dell ever gotten an opportunity to go public?

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