Why This Famous Tightrope Walker Is More Afraid of Government Rules Than Walking Across the Grand Canyon

Some businesses fail, and people lose jobs.

So politicians say, “We must protect workers!”

Some states expanded the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) Act, making it harder to lay off workers.

But there’s a downside to protection, says economist Allison Schrager.

“There is no prosperity, no growth…no ‘upside’ without risking loss.”

Schrager’s new book Worth the Risk argues that government protection now makes us less safe and less prosperous because the rules deter the risk-takers who create better things.

Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda won fame walking high wires over cities, the Grand Canyon, and even an active volcano.

Yet in my new video, he says, “What really scares me now are governmental rules.” He worries that endless rules will bankrupt his circus.

“It’s just unbelievable! They tell us who we have to use to dump our trash….We’re now required to have three sheriffs on staff the entire time. Government has its hands in everything.”

Because of that, he says, “Spending the money that it took to take over the Big Apple Circus was scarier than walking across the Grand Canyon without safety devices.”

And government always imposes more rules.

“We feel that we are doing the right thing by creating these regulations,” says Wallenda, “but the reality is: We’re handcuffing our freedom.”

Many young people today like that protection.

Schrager spoke to college students: “I said, ‘The American dream was taking risks. It was never a guarantee.’ One student raised his hand and said, ‘Your American dream is my nightmare!’”

Why would he say that?

“They were told that if you do everything right, follow the rules, get the right schooling, you get ahead. That’s not true. It’s never been true.”

A recent Gallup Poll shows since 2010, the percentage of young U.S. adults who consider themselves to be “thriving” has dropped from 64 percent to 44 percent.

“We shouldn’t be surprised they’re also less satisfied, feeling like they can’t get ahead,” Schrager says. “If you make sure everyone’s safe and protected, you rob them of realizing their full self.”

The European Union has a larger population than the United States. Its economy was once bigger than America’s. But in the last 20 years, Europe fell behind. Now the U.S. economy is 40 percent bigger.

One reason is that Europe’s regulators pass ever more rules to protect workers.

One such rule forced a German company to rehire an employee who stole from them.

Workers like that protection. But the rules make companies reluctant to hire or try new things. Europe’s job market is much less flexible.

“Europeans say they’re happy with the system,” I tell Schrager.

“Are they?…They’re running out of money! They have enormous debts they can’t pay. They have an aging population they can’t pay for, and they don’t have growth.”

Another reason America does better, says Schrager, is our bankruptcy rules. They make it easier for risk-takers to fail and try again.

Donald Trump’s businesses went bankrupt six times.

“I can’t imagine going bankrupt feels good,” says Schrager, “but it doesn’t hold you back from trying again.”

Henry Ford’s and Milton Hershey’s first businesses declared bankruptcy.

“In other countries, you go bankrupt and you can never try again?” I ask.

“It’s very hard. They might go after your personal assets,” she explains. “There’s also a huge social stigma. It’s much harder to get capital again.”

Now, sadly, America is becoming more like Europe.

Socialists promise guaranteed jobs: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) says everyone should have “the right to a decent job that pays a living wage.”

“The heart of socialism,” says Schrager, “is the exact same lie that’s behind almost every financial scam: ‘You will have everything guaranteed. But you’ll also have growth and prosperity.’ It just doesn’t work that way….Capitalism, it’s brutal. It doesn’t offer any guarantees. Bad things happen, you lose money, but you also have that promise of potential, of growth.”

As Wallenda puts, “We can become so safe, that it becomes dangerous again.”

COPYRIGHT 2026 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

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Source: https://reason.com/2026/11/11/why-this-famous-tightrope-walker-is-more-afraid-of-government-rules-than-walking-across-the-grand-canyon/