Fading US risk-taking culture not a good sign for jobs and economy

New York

AMERICA means business - or used to. Time was, anyone with a good idea and some startup money could take a chance and open a business. That risk-taking spirit kept millions of middle-class Americans upwardly mobile, with jobs that let them buy homes, raise families, send the kids to college and retire comfortably. That's less true today.

Americans are starting fewer businesses, even in Silicon Valley. Established companies aren't reinvesting profits, instead spending almost all their earnings on dividends an…