As a result there are industries that are zero sum games, with an overall tendency to move towards zero sum.
The economy is fundamentally not a zero sum game. It cannot be, under any circumstances. I'm done arguing this point, as I'm not an economist or a game theorist, and you're not either.
[Re: "The cost of business loss is equivalent to gained experience." Not when your house or car is collateral. Not when it is the only thing paying your rent and keeping food on the table.
Sure it is. We can lose all of our material possessions, and all of our food, while we retain all of the wealth in the world through our faith in God. I advise you to study Matthew 6:24-34, but even though that's only ten verses, for brevity I'll only quote one here:
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
We were talking about homesteading, which absolutely has a limit.
I was not talking only about homesteading. I speak of all of us who walk upon the earth.
Then why do we have an army? If the government has no responsibility to protect us, then we could easily save hundreds of billions of dollars of tax payer money by disbanding all armed forces.
The government has a responsibility to protect our nation as an institution; not to protect us each individually.
I don't care about how it sounds, it is the truth.
Except it's not. You frequently come across as confidently incorrect.
[Re: "Businesses have tight budgets."] Only because they budget boat loads of money for executives and shareholders.
Do you have any awareness that 99.9% of businesses in the US are small businesses? Literally 99.9%. (Source) Normal businesses are far closer to my example of making pottery out of clay from your backyard than they are to giant multinational corporations. But all companies, no matter the size, are normally somewhat strapped for cash, because they need to reinvest profits to grow.
Please start a business. The only reason you have not to is if you're afraid of realizing that your entire economic theory is bunk.