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The Howey Test defines an investment contract more narrowly than you imply. People lose absolutely staggering amounts of money each year on bad investments. Money is like water. It flows around these regulations. The detours just add friction that slows innovation, and diverts capital to fees for legal/accounting professionals.

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> The Howey Test defines an investment contract more narrowly than you imply

I mean, maybe?

An investment of money, managed by somebody else, with the expectation of profits. I feel like that covers most things we would typically consider to be investments. Aside from something like, "I bought this piece of art... as an investment." Maybe I'm just missing some obvious examples?

Case law defines each of those points. This elaborates more on that:

http://coinbase.com/legal/securities-law-framework.pdf

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