The risk junkies: America’s saviors

There is a group of people out there that all Americans should get to know a lot better. They’re an adventurous bunch, putting up their own hard-earned money to fund the dream of some starry-eyed entrepreneur. They’re the ones who stack their nickels one on top the other as they work 12-14 hours a day running a construction company, a bakery, a car dealership. Yes, these men and women may be small business owners, but they’re much, much more than that — they’re capitalists. Not every small business owner is a capitalist, or even an investor. Most are too busy and too frazzled just trying to make ends meet. No, these capitalists come from a very small, elite group. They are the successful small business owners. The ones who have managed to become financially independent, and have the time and money to help others achieve success.

Help? Since when do capitalists help anyone except themselves? But that’s exactly what this rare breed does. They know what it’s like to start a business and bootstrap yourself to prosperity with hard work and sheer determination. And so, they offer start-up capital, advice and business connections to bring an idea to life. The risks are enormous and the rewards a long way off. And yet, they plunge ahead. This is how real capitalism works. Individual investors, groups of investors or a network put up the seed money for a new business we’ll be reading about five years from now. Are they expecting a return on that investment? Of course, they are. Would they be better off putting that money in a safer place, like a government bond? Yes, but they wouldn’t be happy. You see, they’re risk junkies. After a lifetime of taking risks in their own business and with their own livelihood, they’ve made a little bit of money. And, they can’t help but put that money to work in the most creative, dynamic way they know - by helping start another business.

Some of these new business concepts are incredibly ambitious - early detection of Alzheimer’s, or maybe a low-cost phone system for developing countries; ground-breaking clean energy technology or incredible new personal security devices. Many of these ideas start out small, in the hands of one or two visionaries and the risk junkies who back them. And, many of them fail for reasons too numerous to list, much less analyze. Suffice it to say that the road to mega-success is strewn with roadkill, much of it small investors who bet the farm on a big idea. Curiously, when the risk junkies win, they’re even more generous than they were before. And when they lose, they don’t complain, they don’t whine. They roll up their sleeves and work even harder to rebuild their investment capital.

What does our government do for the people behind the entrepreneur, the people without whom the entrepreneur would be nothing but big talk? Well, actually nothing. Our government makes it ever more difficult to save money. Our government’s progressive tax scheme effectively targets successful small business owners and Congress has made sure to eliminate just about every perk and advantage to owning and operating a small business. The Democrats in particular have made wealth accumulation nearly impossible. And what these socialists don’t understand is that many successful small business owners plow that hard-earned, heavily-taxed capital right back into another business. They invest. They mentor. They get involved. These are people driven to succeed. And what’s appalling is that the parasites hitch their wagons to these incredibly energetic people and go for a free ride.

The risk junkies aren’t stupid. They understand that they’re being unfairly exploited because they have this insatiable desire to succeed. They also know America is the only place on the planet were anyone with drive and ambition can succeed regardless of family connections, political or religious affiliation, tribal or caste distinctions or miles of bureaucratic red tape. And so, this group soldiers on. But at some point, when the odds are overwhelmingly against them, when they are brutalized for just trying to get ahead, this special group of investors - the risk junkies, will disappear. And so will our way of life.