Does it bug you as much as it bugs me when liberals try to give all the credit for any success to the government for providing us all with a safety net (that, ironically, few take advantage of)? Or attempt to downplay risk with dubious anecdotes that don’t really say what they think they are saying (i.e., even in your example in the OP the family there DID take risks…and they were risks that didn’t pay off. That they weren’t living in destitution due to their risks not paying off hardly indicates that the risks were pain free).
There is nothing disingenuous about encouraging people to start businesses. You are never going to get rich (or even be at the upper end of ‘well to do’) working for someone else (someone who, you know, took a risk). The fact that many businesses fail doesn’t mean that it’s disingenuous, it just means that it’s not a guarantee of success. Now, if someone is telling you (or someone) that starting a business is a guarantee of success and wealth, that’s different…that WOULD be disingenuous, to be sure. Just like telling a 6 year old that if he goes out and plays football or whatever that s/he WILL be a sports star and make millions would be disingenuous, while telling them that if they train hard, are lucky and really, really good they MIGHT be such a star is simply encouraging them.
Here’s my own anecdote. I started my own IT consulting company after the dot com bust through me out of work with my investments in ruins. It kept food on my families tables while things slowly rebuilt in the IT field and the jobs started to come back. It never did better than that, however, and eventually I turned em in, folded my company and went back to work for someone else. Why? Lots of reasons, but the biggest one IMHO is I’m not suited to being a big wheel in business. I don’t have the right instincts. I’m also too lazy…I can work for 12 or 16 hour days, but not 6 days a week for years on end. Just not in my nature. I’m better working for someone and being a key asset for someone else’s company.
On the other hand, my dad was driven. He was able to start a company and work like a maniac for years and decades building it up from nothing to the point where it was worth millions when he retired. Did he have help from the government? Sure…it helps to be a minority when bidding on government contracts, plus he had training from the Navy (same as me), and then there was the fact that they let us move here in the first place. And for this munificent help the government was able to, you know, tax him, his company, and his employees.
If simply creating the environment and providing a safety net were enough then everyone would be a success story like my dad, as opposed to a failure (at least wrt being a business wheeler and dealer) like me. But it’s not. You have to have the drive to succeed, and the willingness to risk capital or whatever to make it happen…and to work like hell, live with privation and all the rest, at least if you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your yap. A bit of luck doesn’t hurt, either, but it’s again not the primary factor either.
-XT