America’s IPO Mini-Boom

Too bad SpaceX and others didn’t go public sooner, but they are a tribute to the U.S. capitalist system

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"Companies are staying private longer because of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s burdensome regulations, shareholder litigation and abundant financing available in private markets. The number of public companies has shrunk by half in three decades.

This means ordinary Americans who invest in the stock market, either directly or through retirement accounts, are sharing less in America’s wealth creation."

"One reason the U.S. boasts the world’s most valuable companies and promising startups is because the government doesn’t seek to punish success—or handcuff entrepreneurs with regulation as the Europeans do. China boasts enormous human capital, but Beijing’s financial markets are stunted by the desire for political control."