It's the kind of story that ensures Utah will remain the bankruptcy and sucker capital of the nation.

Forbes, "Gambling for Great Wealth," examines how the Forbes 400 made their piles. In it, Jon Huntsman Sr. shares his secret — taking risks, humongous ones, and remaining fearless of the consequences. (Huntsman, left, enjoying the perks of wealth.)

Want to buy a $42 million plastic plant? Use other people's money. But you've got to gamble big, Jon Sr. says:

"They want to see some type of equity, and if you don't have a rich uncle, the only equity you can put up is whatever you own--your house and any other assets you may have. They may not amount to much, but at least it's everything you've got. Then they can believe you."

"Within a few years I broke even, and then the gold hit," Huntsman says, sounding uncomfortably like a con man, "and I made hundreds of millions of dollars from a very modest investment."

The moral of the story, according to Forbes? If you're going to take massive risks, you simply can't perceive huge personal debt as the catastrophe that it would be to most people.

Before you Utah County schmucks run out and second-mortgage your homes and empty the kids' missionary banks, wait for the Forbes' sequel: "Losing It All: How Utah Earned the Third-Highest Bankruptcy Rate."

Somehow I don't think that will sell a lot of copies.