[chongli]

You never know, it’s the law of unintended consequences. Maybe it would’ve caused people to walk away from stocks as an investment. Maybe people would’ve put all their money in real estate instead. Kind of staggering if you think about how much worse the whole housing crisis could be.

[doctorwho42]

Devil's advocate; maybe they would invest more into small businesses instead of housing.

[chongli]

Small businesses are hard. I can’t tell you how many restaurants moved in (and then went out of business within a year) to the plaza next to the university during my degree. The landlords who own that plaza have remained the same for decades. They don’t care if any of the businesses survive. They have tenants lined up around the block, just waiting to pay big rents.

[jancsika]

What's the failure rate in small- vs mid- and large-sized companies? Is it really any different?

[chongli]

Restaurants have extremely high failure rates! Large sized companies are rock solid by comparison.

[ClumsyPilot]

you would invest in a fund, not individual small companies.