Entrepreneurship and Risk-Taking in Business are Dead: The Return of the Debtors Prison!

 

Entrepreneurship and Risk-Taking in Business are Dead:

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The Return of the Debtors Prison!

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An original Business blog article by Yonatan Maisel exclusively at JobShuk

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Press Release: The Associated Press. Dateline: March 8, 2011:

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"In a move to clamp down on businesses which accumulate debt which can’t be re-paid, the governments of the United States and the European Union have today proposed legislation to bring back Debtors Prisons. The initial pilot-program will affect small businesses only but is expected in the near-future to encompass larger businesses and corporations as well. 

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Business, Risk, and the chance of Success or Failure:

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Okay, it’s fictitious; no need to worry.

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But with debt, foreclosures, re-possession and bankruptcies hitting record-highs, could it ever happen?

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And if it ever did, ask yourself as a small business owner: have you accumulated debt that you can’t pay at this time? Is your business in the red? Is your next big business plan risky? Are you an entrepreneur who might succeed wildly with "the next big thing," but is there also a chance that things could "go south?"

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Some of the greatest inventions, breakthroughs and innovations which we as consumers take for granted were brought about by those who took risks and chances. For every one of these great, game-changing innovations, there were those that failed.

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With potential penal punishment for financial failure, how might the world of business look? Differently? Probably. Those with awesome ideas would probably be hesitant to go ahead with their ventures. Those offering financing to ‘venturists’ would probably be much less inclined to invest. Your father, mother, sister, brother or the guy down the street who decided to take a chance to build a business might just end up in…

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Debtors Prisons: A Brief History:

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Perhaps due to Charles Dickens and his many writings on debtors prisons ("Little Dorrit" is among his finest), no other country has been as synonymous with debtors prisons as England.

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Until the late 19th Century in England, and in other European countries as well, if you owed money to creditors and were unable to pay, you would end up in prison. These prisons were old, decrepit and draconian. Rather than having cells, however, debtors prisons were huge, open, communal spaces. Men and women were housed together. Communities formed. Oftentimes, the family of the debtor, left destitute and homeless, came to live in the prison; they could come and go as they pleased. Kids were born in the prisons.

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When those on land began to fill up, new ones were opened in the hulls of disused, rotting ships which were anchored offshore.

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Because the prisoner was charged a fee for being in prison (food, bed, legal fees) the debt was often compounded, pushing the prisoner even deeper into the red.

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Fact: Charles Dickens’ father served three months in debtors prison in 1824 for a small fee he owed to a baker.

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Fact: When the "Fleet Prison" was closed by an act of Parliament in the mid 1800s, some prisoners were found to have been locked up for three decades for their debts. 

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In the United States, debtors prisons remained in existence until 1833. In some states, imprisonment could result from as little as sixty cents worth of unpaid debt.

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Fact: Notable Americans who served time in debtors prison: James Wilson and Robert Morris, both signers of the Declaration of Independence.

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Financial responsibility is a hallmark of our economic system. Most people have little sympathy for those who take ridiculous gambles on outcomes and lose. Do you sympathize with Bernie Madoff and those responsible for the fiascos at Enron, WorldCom and AIG? Probably not.

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But the world of Small Business is founded on great ideas and plans that do involve risk. Imagine that the fictitious press release at the top of this article was real.

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Would you continue to take chances…

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…to build your dream and make it a reality?

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Image Credits: Prison: www.boblines.com/images;  Old Globe: http://www.1.bp.blogspot.com/; World: http://www.imba.nccu.edu/

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Yonatan Maisel is a Business blogger, history buff and author. He specializes in all aspects of Business writing.

From speeches to resumes, from corporate bios to research, from blogging to website content, from articles to ghost-writing, he provides the highest level of quality at a very reasonable price.

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