{"id":89,"date":"2024-12-07T15:48:52","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T15:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/?p=89"},"modified":"2025-05-08T21:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T21:20:19","slug":"entrepreneurs-dont-need-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/07\/entrepreneurs-dont-need-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneurs: Trailblazers or Complainers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

At Issue:<\/strong> An American economist was giving a talk when a Swiss man in the audience raised a complaint: government regulations were driving entrepreneurs out of Switzerland. The lament felt familiar\u2014a staple grievance in debates about business and governance. But it raises an important question: what makes a true entrepreneur? Are they lazy opportunists whining for better conditions, or trailblazers who overcome all odds to succeed?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true entrepreneur always finds a way to make money. History proves this. In the 1950s, when the U.S. effective tax rate was over 90%, entrepreneurs still created the most successful enterprises in the world and the strongest national economy in the world. After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, regulations poured in to protect workers, yet business owners didn\u2019t quit\u2014they adapted, finding new ways to innovate and make profits. Entrepreneurs didn\u2019t emerge because of favorable tax breaks or low capital gains; they thrived because they solve problems, fix inefficiencies, and profit from their solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risk and Reward: A Progressive System<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ask an entrepreneur who made their first million\u2014they\u2019ll tell you it was the hardest money they ever earned. Scaling from $1 million to $5 million is still tough. But getting from $5 million to $20 million? That gets easier. Why? Because success buys access: to top accountants, lawyers, marketers, and financiers. At this level, wealth multiplies more through capital than effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why progressive taxation exists. Once you hit certain thresholds, your ability to grow wealth accelerates exponentially. It\u2019s not just about effort anymore; it\u2019s about resources. This also explains the logic behind capital gains taxes. The government incentivizes risk-taking by offering lower tax rates on investments. If you put $500,000 into a business, you might pay less tax on your profits if it succeeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s where things get complicated\u2014and inequitable. Someone like Mitt Romney might pool $1 million from several investors and manage their fund. As compensation, he takes a cut of the fund\u2019s profits, which is taxed as capital gains rather than income. This means Romney pays less tax than a salaried worker, even though he risked none of his own money. Even if two of Romney\u2019s five funds fail, he can offset those losses to lower his taxes on the three that succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this fair? Firefighters, teachers, and nurses don\u2019t get to claim \u201closses\u201d on their livelihoods. They don\u2019t have access to these financial mechanisms. Yet they pay taxes that fund the infrastructure entrepreneurs depend on: roads, schools, and public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The False Narrative of Self-Made Success<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This dynamic leads to dangerous rhetoric. My brother, an entrepreneur, once asked my girlfriend what she did for a living. When she replied that she was a teacher, he smirked and said, \u201cYou\u2019re the ground I walk on.\u201d<\/em> It wasn\u2019t just a cheeky remark. It was a worldview: that entrepreneurs create wealth, and everyone else is a parasite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This idea isn\u2019t new. Calvin Coolidge famously said, \u201cThe business of America is business.\u201d<\/em> That mindset drove unfettered capitalism and, eventually, the Great Depression. Today, we don\u2019t live in a libertarian utopia where business operates without government. No society ever has. The government always sets the rules\u2014good or bad\u2014because without regulation, the system collapses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True entrepreneurs understand this. They don\u2019t spend their time complaining about taxes or regulations. They adapt. They solve problems. They build. If entrepreneurs leave Switzerland because of regulations, that\u2019s their choice. But it doesn\u2019t make them pioneers; it makes them opportunists looking for easier terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real reward of entrepreneurship isn\u2019t just material wealth. It\u2019s starting from nothing, incubating a great idea, and turning it into something transformative. The yachts, mansions, and luxury cars? Those are just a loud way of saying, \u201cLook what I built!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneurs Don\u2019t Do It Alone<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s troubling is how often successful entrepreneurs dismiss the public systems that enabled their success. Public schools create literate workers. Roads and infrastructure move goods. Emergency services protect businesses. Entrepreneurs benefit from all these systems yet act as though their success happened in a vacuum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As President Obama once said, \u201cYou didn\u2019t build that.\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s not to downplay entrepreneurial grit or vision but to acknowledge reality: success is a team effort. Teachers, nurses, firefighters, and others play a critical role in the foundation of prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneurs aren\u2019t moochers. But neither are the workers, taxpayers, and public servants who keep the system running. True entrepreneurialism isn\u2019t about marginalizing these contributions. It\u2019s about building something amazing\u2014and recognizing the shoulders you stood on to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Issue: An American economist was giving a talk when a Swiss man in the audience raised a complaint: government regulations were driving entrepreneurs out of Switzerland. The lament felt familiar\u2014a staple grievance in debates about business and governance. But it raises an important question: what makes a true entrepreneur? Are they lazy opportunists whining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,11],"tags":[13,14,5],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-politics","tag-business","tag-social-innovation","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269,"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions\/269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.operamode.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}