Curt Schllling Firm Lays Off Entire Staff, Stiffs Rhode Island Loan Repayment

The very visible, retired baseball star Curt Schilling has publicly embraced right-wing, Republican politics in recent years. He declared himself a so-called "pro-growth," "pro-business" advocate, and decried government programs as masquerades for socialism.

Meanwhile, Schilling began a video game enterprise called 38 Studios. The firm's original domicile was Massachusetts, where coincidentally Schilling once played major league baseball. Not one to miss an opportunity to cash in, Schilling received a sweetheart loan deal from the state of Rhode Island and its Republican governor to move the former Boston Red Sox star's firm to Providence. The essence of the arrangement was a state-guaranteed $75 million loan. The commercial marriage lasted two years: 38 Studios laid off its entire Rhode Island and Maryland staffs this past week, as reported The Boston Globe and elsewhere.

Schilling, at one point, put in over four million dollars of his own funds to save the failing firm. However, he repaid himself in full with some of the state's loan money before bidding adieu to 38 Studios. Entrepreneurial risk, a perspective Schilling loudly touted as essential to economic vigor and personal virtue, turned out to be less appealing when the pitching ace's company couldn't find the business equivalent of the strike zone. Suddenly, government money, which Schilling had characterized in pernicious terms, became very desirable.

Curt Schilling dodging reporters
in Providence, Rhode Island

What became quite clear in this episode is Schilling's complete indifference toward his employees and toward taxpayers. It's an interesting cautionary tale, with an upcoming presidential election focusing on how a corporate raider's business acumen will somehow translate into Lincolnesque leadership. When it comes to financial risk, one can cite far too many examples, such as Schilling and selected Wall Street investment bankers, who talk the talk, but rarely walk the walk. It's so much easier and profitable to simply fleece governmental agencies and programs after a business rolls snake eyes.