Certainly, Marker's system doesn't guarantee that a fallen angel will pick itself up off the floor.

FORBES: Timing Is Everything

There is a difference, though: Unlike angel tax credits, which haven't proved to spur business formation, lower income taxes would create more opportunities for angel investors, so the overall level of investment might rise.

WSJ: Do Angel Investors Deserve Tax Credits to Invest in Small Businesses?

Angel investors aren't always a good fit and may not be eager to dig deeper into their pockets.

FORBES: The next level

That's not cheap, but it's cheaper, in a way, than drugstore.com angel Amazon -- which doesn't have any earnings.

FORBES: Script doctor

" 'I Can't Make You Love Me, ' 'Angel From Montgomery, ' 'Something to Talk About, ' you know, people who haven't seen me in a long time, they love those songs, and they're the ones who paid for the tour bus, " she said.

CNN: Bonnie Raitt's colorful blues

Angel, Snapcase, this guy they didn't really know but who had been crashing at their place for the past few days, and Jessica were all looking out the back window at the fire pit.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Estrellas y Rascacielos'

If you can't afford to grow your start-up to the next level, angel investors may be able to fill the gap.

WSJ: Angel Investors Can Help Fund Your Next Step

After initially failing to award Oakland's Adam Rosales a tying home run in the ninth inning at Cleveland on May 8, Angel Hernandez's umpiring crew reviewed video and still didn't award him the homer even though replays showed the ball clearly went over the fence.

WSJ: MLB hoping for large replay expansion in 2014

And the way it came to me was that there was a angel in heaven watching the plight of this couple try to have a kid, and it was God's favorite little angel, and one day, God calls a roll call, and she doesn't answer.

NPR: 'Unpredictable' Actor and Musician Jamie Foxx