| The US capital markets are closer to Putin's Russia than to free markets. Historically, listing rules asked: "How much money did you make last year, and do you fit our standard corporate governance box?" Today, NASDAQ's rules ask: "Do you have the massive market capitalisation, sufficient institutional public float, and transparent liquidity to ensure fair and orderly trading?" Here are the obvious ones: 1. Free float - Every company that intended to list was required to have at least 20% free float. 2. Index weights were based on the free float. 3. Time before inclusion into the Indices (min 12 months) now 15 trading days 4. Lockup period - minimum 12 months up to 24 months - not 180 days. I wish people would understand that if America had a functioning criminal justice system, no one would have heard Elon Musk nor Donald Trump. |