So, in Other Words...

...the SEC is effectively blocking U.S. investors from participating in the Facebook private placement.

I know Goldman is taking a lot of heat for its Facebook offering right now, but is the firm at fault, or are outmoded regulatory rules to blame for this mess?

The answer to that is clearly the latter. For a taste of the fear big brokerage firms live in, just walk into your advisor's office and see how the day's most basic technologies-- IM, text, even most websites-- are off limits to your broker. Because the SEC hasn't bothered to come up with a mechanism for allowing these everyday forms of communication, firms live in outright fear of even the tiniest misplaced word putting their whole firm being put at risk, so they all just ban their use outright.

That must lead to a well-informed account executive, eh?

Way to keep brokers in the dark and brokerage firms trembling, SEC! And way to ensure that all the money going into Facebook is foreign.

Some investor protection, that.