Letter to the Editor - Auditor's office crippling Montana's economy

Editor,

As commissioner of securities and insurance, the Montana state auditor helps supervise a regulatory system that is working hard to prevent Montana’s businesses from raising equity financing from the people. By shutting down business fundraising, the people are forced to get toxic loans from the Wall Street banking cartel. This is Montana’s No. 1 economic problem.

The Auditor’s office and the feds have made raising equity so complicated that only 31 companies statewide have applied for equity with the Auditor’s office. Companies must pay extortionate fees to lawyers and investment bankers to get through the registration process or find an exemption.

We need a government that builds a freeway for businesses to get equity capital, not complacently sustain an old, broken and, frankly, corrupt system. Montana needs a system that helps folks automatically raise an unlimited amount of money from anyone in the country and safely navigate both federal and state rules. This system must be free — if the government takes away the people’s right to raise money from others, it must not sell back that right to the people for a price.

James Dean, Havre

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate