Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
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Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
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Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#2One of the key comments made by Jon Stewart:
What we need to do in this country is make it a softer cushion for failure. Because what they say is the job creators need more tax cuts and they need a bigger payoff on the risk that they take. … But what about the risk of, you’re afraid to leave your job and be an entrepreneur because that’s where your health insurance is? … Why aren’t we able to sell this idea that you don’t have to amplify the payoff of risk to gain success in this country, you need to soften the damage of risk?
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#3Humans are complacent and humans are risk-averse. Increasing reward and decreasing risk play to different aspects of human nature.
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#4We'll the USA already has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Maybe if they were paying less in taxes, startups would have more money for health insurance for their employees?
All entrepreneurs know that they can get better employee retention with health care policy. If companies could afford it, then would there not be a higher incentive to provide it?
That being said, I believe national health insurance is a good idea. Assuming government spending is significantly restricted in other areas.
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#5OK, so, I am ardently socially liberal, and I've had a man-crush on Jon Stewart that hasn't waned ever since his appearance on Crossfire.
But.
I don't think that decreasing risk will result in more entrepreneurship.
I would support a wider social safety net for entrepreneurs -- er, business owners -- on principle alone, because I think what we should be saying is that these people are vitally important to our economy and to our nation's future, just as much as larger enterprise is, and we should support that.
But the thing is, most people don't want to run their own business no matter how safe you make it. I've spent the last few years encouraging people around me to start or run or improve their businesses, but so many of them just want to be a professional in their field; they don't want to deal with all of the other aspects of running a business.
So don't lower entrepreneurial risk because you think it will open more businesses, because you think that the guy with a good paying job and some savings is worried about his health insurance. If he (or she!) wants to open or run a business, he (or she!) will do that regardless. It's one of the few probably universal aspects of entrepreneurship that the people who will do well at it aren't really happy working for other people anyway, they have this itch that they can't scratch unless they strike out on their own, risks or not.
But do lower entrepreneurial risk because you recognize the value of entrepreneurs and you want to make sure that small business owners with families can still get good health care and dental care and afford a modest living.
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#6I think it's a fair point.
But - what problem are we solving? Do we think there are too few entrepreneurs, and this will help create more? How many is enough, and how much should we spend to create them?
The problem Stewart seems to be solving is that he'd prefer to remove ammunition from his opponents' argument, which isn't an actual problem.
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#7We'll the USA already has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Maybe if they were paying less in taxes, startups would have more money for health insurance for their employees? All entrepreneurs know that they can get better employee retention with health care policy. If companies could afford it, then would there not be a higher incentive to provide it? That being said, I believe national health insurance is…
Startups don't forgo health insurance because it's expensive, they forgo it because purchasing health insurance is a gigantic, time-consuming pain in the ass.
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#8Humans are complacent and humans are risk-averse. Increasing reward and decreasing risk play to different aspects of human nature.
True but that doesn't mean there is no place for those who just want to build a small business without having to sacrifice their personal life to it.
Decreasing risk is also beneficial to society at large if a larger portion of people are allowed to build businesses that provide jobs.
There is also the thought that lowering the personal risk to you and your family allows you to take more chances with your business ideas and become more innovative.
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#9Countries with much broader safety nets for entrepreneurs are not producing the risky innovative companies that America is. But, as far as I can tell, health insurance really is the biggest factor keeping people from starting new companies.
For myself and my peers, with new families and houses and student debt, etc., it's the one thing that scares us more than anything else. The prospect of a business going under is nowhere near as terrifying of getting caught off guard without health insurance. It's positively paralyzing, knowing that it is something that could be essentially impossible to recover from, unlike simply writing off a failed venture. Hopefully the Affordable Care Act will mitigate some of that.
Re: Jon Stewart: Lower entrepreneurial risk
#10I absolutely support this. I think a lot more experienced people would do startups if they didn't have to risk their families' health in the process. And I think there is a lot of benefit to experienced people doing startups versus young kids who can tolerate the risk because they have little to lose.