五年之前，波士顿红袜队的王牌投手柯特•希林率队在四年内两夺美国职棒大联盟冠军，成为与保罗•里维尔（美国独立战争英雄，以列克星敦战役前夜通知英军来袭而闻名）、肯尼迪总统比肩的新英格兰英雄。今天他却沦为笑柄，他的游戏公司倒闭，导致数百人失业，纳税人损失至少7,500万美元。他的支持者日益流逝，对他们来说，他不过是一个缺乏商业嗅觉的好人。同时，他的批评者队伍区在日益壮大，他们认为希林就是个伪君子。而对其他所有人来说，他的故事则令人警醒。

    关于希林和38号工作室（38号正是希林的球衣号码）的故事错综复杂，这里只给出一个概要：出于对大型多玩家在线游戏（可容纳数千人同时对战的网络游戏）的个人热情，希林五年前在马萨诸塞州成立了38号工作室。他试图筹集风险投资但未果。最后他投入超过3,000万美元的个人积蓄，并在2009年买下马里兰州一家制作单人游戏的大型工作室。2010年，38号工作室从罗德岛州得到7,500万美元的贷款担保（罗德岛州当选州长林肯•查菲曾表示反对），作为交换条件，希林将公司总部迁至该州，并承诺雇佣数百名新员工。公司曾发布一款热门的单人游戏，但在5月份突然违约，未能向马里兰州支付110万美元的利息，当时该公司距离发布多玩家游戏至少还有一年以上的时间。希林试图向私人投资者募集资金，并向罗德岛州申请税收抵免，均未获成功，最终38号工作室解雇了其在罗德岛州和马里兰州的全体员工，共计约400人。

    显然，那些失业的人们深陷困境，正面临巨大财政问题的弹丸之地罗德岛州也是如此。但我们也得到四个教训，可以帮助避免下一个38号工作室的产生。

    别让政客扮演风险资本家的角色。就连多数职业风险资本家都会投资亏损，难道天天蹲办公室的业余选手会做得更好吗？政府只需要为公司和新兴产业创造出成功条件，剩下的交给市场就可以了。

    如果政客坚持进行风险投资，就该学会分散风险。罗德岛对38号工作室的贷款中最惊人的问题就是没有要求外部投资者的认可。人们一向说狼多肉少，风险资本家有钱没处花，但就连他们都绕着走。难道普罗维登斯（罗德岛州府）的政客们还不应该警醒吗？不管你怎么看Solyndra（已倒闭的美国太阳能公司，它得到的5.35亿联邦贷款担保还是让奥巴马政府极为难堪——译注），至少它在拿到联邦贷款前还曾经被要求筹集等量的私人资金。虽然这也并不是个万全之策（参见教训1，风险资本家也亏钱），但和第三方共同分担风险依然具有判断和财务上的价值。

    Five years ago Curt Schilling was a hero in New England, right up there with Paul Revere, J.F.K., and the mustachioed Dunkin' Donuts man. Today the former Red Sox pitcher is a pariah after his videogame company went bust, taking hundreds of jobs and at least $75 million in taxpayer money along with it. To his dwindling number of defenders, Schilling is a good guy with a lousy business sense. To his growing legion of detractors, he's a hypocrite. To everyone, he should be a cautionary tale.

    The full story of Schilling and 38 Studios is complicated, so here's the game summary: Schilling founded 38 Studios in Massachusetts five years ago to pursue a personal passion for massive multiplayer online games, which are web-based games that can be played by thousands of people simultaneously. He tried to raise venture capital, but couldn't. So he plugged more than $30 million of his savings into the company and in 2009 bought a large studio in Maryland that created single-player games. In 2010, 38 Studios received a $75 million loan guarantee from Rhode Island in exchange for moving his company's headquarters there and promising to hire hundreds of new workers (over the objections of future Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee). The company later released a popular single-player game and was at least a year from releasing its multiplayer game when it unexpectedly defaulted on a $1.1 million interest payment to Rhode Island in May. Schilling tried getting alternative funding from private investors or tax credits from the state, but failed, and 38 Studios fired all of its workers in Rhode Island and Maryland -- around 400 people.

    It is obviously a terrible situation for those who lost their jobs -- and for a tiny state already facing giant fiscal problems. But there are four lessons that could help prevent the next 38 Studios.

    Stop letting politicians play venture capitalist. Most professional venture capitalists lose money, so why would amateurs in political office do any better? Create the conditions for businesses and emerging industries to succeed, and then let the private market have at it.

    If they insist on playing VC, they should share the risk. The most egregious part of Rhode Island's loan to 38 Studios was that it required no validation from outside investors. Venture capitalists, who are always said to have too much money chasing too few deals, had all passed. Did that not set off any alarms in Providence? Say what you will about Solyndra, but at least the company was required to raise private matching funds before getting federal dollars. Obviously it isn't foolproof (see No. 1), but there is judgmental and financial value in shared risk with third parties.