Erik Sherman, DC Report @ Raw Story

The Jump-Start Our Business Start-Ups (or JOBS) Act of 2012 was supposed to mean great opportunities for small business owners to raise capital and grow family-controlled businesses. At the time President Barack Obama called it "a potential game-changer" that would give them "access to a big, new pool of potential investors—namely, the American people."

The law was intended to allow small operations to raise money through crowdfunding, pretty much the same way people raise money with a GoFundMe type campaign or how companies use Kickstarter for specific projects.

Except, things didn't work out quite that way for either small businesses or small-time investors. New rules, called Reg CF (for crowdfunding), from the Securities and Exchange Commission were supposed to fix problems that had made the concept pretty much unworkable. But nine years after the law was passed, it has ended up favoring larger enterprises while strengthening the hold on business financing of Wall Street banks, Silicon Valley venture capitalists and other large financial players....

Trump and his administration have institutionalized bullshit by disconnecting actions and rhetoric from fact and truth. Their willingness to say anything so long as the results trick the gullible and advance their interests is shocking. Now, congressional inaction on further pandemic economic relief has compounded the Trump con game and opened the door to a cynical political ploy that could bury millions.

The Wizards of Wall Street are back with a blast from the Great Recession past: repackaging and selling off debt.

How do you win an election? You could gain a majority of votes. Or you can cheat—as Republicans have been doing in force since 2010—with gerrymandering and other forms of suppression across the country so the minority party can gain and hold power even as its numbers shrink.

Many call Donald Trump a liar because he's made it so obvious and easy to do so. But the reality is even worse than lying. What Trump & Co. have done is attack the very existence of fact and truth.