Small Businesses

Here is the Beeb, the British Broadcasting Corporation, talking about the United States and the number of people starting small businesses—people leaving the security of the corporate world in this current economy and going it alone. In the words of the headline, "Why are Americans leaving good jobs to go solo?"  The author is Ms Kate Dailey.

But, there is another issue here.  The Miami Herald writer Andres Oppenheimer asks if Steve Jobs could have had the success he did if he had been living elsewhere.  The headline reads "Steve Jobs may have failed abroad".  The lede is:

A Tweet I received from a Spanish follower hours after the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs caught my attention. It said, “In Spain, Jobs wouldn’t have been able to do anything, because it’s illegal to start a business in your garage, and nobody would give you a penny.”

I checked with my Granddaughter's husband, who is from the Netherlands (they now live in Ohio).  He didn't just confirm the observation, he made it sound worse.  I think he is happy to be here.  Yes, he just lost a job opportunity, one that he had been counting on and had been tracking for quite some time, but he has found a whole new freedom in the US, including a freedom in terms of being able to go to college, which he is doing.

As we go through these very trying economic times and people propose changing this or that activity, it is important to us, it is important for the American Dream, that we don't kill off the chance for entrepreneurship, for innovation, that puts this nation in a small group of nations that allows the little guy to become his or her own business owner.  Perhaps that is why it seems that the People are not all that concerned about beating down the rich.  The People in these United States actually think that some day they might hit the right combination and become that rich person, and not by playing the lottery, buy by using their own talents.

Regards  —  Cliff