Not The-Juiceman, but I'll do my best to explain...

First - Star Citizen started as a Kickstarter, and at this point the 22,000 is funding the development of the game, just as it would have in the initial funding campaign, but with a larger window. People looking for a financial return on investment of that amount of money would be better served putting that same amount of money into stocks in an established company. They don't, because they don't want shares in a company, they want the game of their dreams to be developed, and developed with the resources equivalent to one of those established companies. If he had put 22,000 into EA over the same time period, for example, assuming he'd put the full amount into it on Day 1, that 22K would be worth 140K (turns out EA was out a five year low at that exact moment). But that's the problem, EA is in the business of making money for shareholders, rather than making games for players. Juiceman's 22,000 dollars would have a financial return, yes, but he would have been funding NHL 2014, rather than a game he'd want to play.

Losses are not permanent, not exactly. At 22,000 dollars I'm going to assume Juiceman has lifetime insurance (LTI) on most, if not all, of his ships. This guarantees that after launch, if any of his ships are destroyed and his player is killed, his beneficiary (respawn) will receive the ship - after a time interval, in order to discourage players from blowing up their ships to get a fresh one and avoid repair fees. Insurance can also be earned in game, for folks who have more time than money.

There is risk involved with the investment sure. At this point, I think its safe to assume the company won't go bust, not with as many idiots like me around as there are, but the game could certainly not live up to our wild expectations. But the same could be said of the EA investment; roll back the clock five years, and Juiceman's hypothetical 22,000 investment, would cash out at 5,400 over the same duration.

As for the grinding argument or pay to win, this one has been done to death, and my response may be clumsy, but... its important to note that no matter what ship you own, you can only be in one place at any given time, so the most ships you can manage at once is one. That means the Javelin is currently the highest level content you can start with, which will set players back 17,500 (15,000 for the Completionist pack to gain the ability to buy the Javelin for 2500). But to fly the Javelin you need people; lots of people or NPC's just to operate it, and those NPC's will have to be paid, so even if you start with one, you'd have to play at a very high level for a significant period of time just to get your ship from one point of the universe to the other, which a player in an Aurora would manage for a $45 investment. Granted, you'd be able to take on almost every individual you might come across, but eventually a Javelin is going to get enough negative attention, that (unless properly staffed, maintained, and defended) the player will lose a fight, and some nefarious org will be able to take it for themselves, and Juiceman will have to wait for his replacement Javelin to be delivered while sitting in his 890 Jump, I'm sure.

I have an Endeavor, and I don't feel like the Juiceman will have an unfair advantage over me, despite putting so much more money into the game. Coincidentally, I too plan on playing a space doctor, so we'll likely be running the game in similar ways. Nor do I feel we'll have an unfair advantage over players in starting ships. He and I will both need to make sure our space hospitals are properly defended. We'll need to buy supplies, hire competent staff, and locate sites which are dangerous enough to produce demand for our services, but not so dangerous we lose our ships immediately. Starting with the Endeavor doesn't mean we'll be "winning" the space doctor game. We'll still be individuals, and we'll still need other players to perform search and rescue, emergency medical transport, medicine deliveries, and those players - through that need - will get to start their experience with the Hope Class Endeavors we paid for. Lord knows, we'll both need someone to drive.

If people are able to earn enough to get a Javelin in an hour, well... then the second hour of Star Citizen will be very interesting. If it takes years to get the Javelin, and Juiceman is disappointed, then he'll be able to set down his biggest toy and play the game with the Aurora, which also comes with the Completionist pack. Its important to realize that the ships are not the entirety of the game, they are the characters that you play the game with. There are still things to find, equipment to earn, locations to explore, enemies to fight, players to team up with, and stories to listen to and forge yourself.

I'm only 800 in, and most of that is in my Endeavor. The rest is a Cutlass, some starter packs for family, and my monthly subscription. Its not 22,000 but that's still a lot of money to a lot of people. There are certainly more valuable or more prudent things I could have spent it on, but I want Star Citizen to happen. I like the direction of the game so far, and I trust Chris Roberts' track record. I want to encourage the industry to pursue this level of transparency in other projects, and I feel like my money is going to that cause.

I hope this might have cleared things up.