[Fat Charlie]

Stocks are a great idea.

If you and a few friends want to start a business together you all chip in what you can (money/skills/equipment) and everyone has a share. But if one of you chips in twice as much as everyone else or brings unique skills to the table, their ownership share is a little bigger. Maybe 2 or 3 shares.

When you scale it up from a few friends doing something together to, say, a transcontinental railroad, you need more people buying shares. And yes, you need people buying in. A bank may get talked into lending money to start a resraurant, but they're not into risk. At least not a real bank.

Once the company is running, stocks still serve a purpose. You can invest as much or as little as you want/can. You can get out of a business just by finding someone who wants in, and as long as you own a chunk of it you don't want management doing something to destroy its value.

Yes, you get people gaming it. But it still really helps.