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November 11, 2004
State of Entrepreneurship in America
The Office of Advocacy of the SBA has issued their annual State of Small Business Report for 2004.
This year's highlights:
* "In the second half of 2003, consumer and business confidence returned and the economy shifted into higher gear. Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter and the number of employer firms increased by 0.3 percent over the year. The number of unincorporated self-employed increased by 3.7 percent during the year as well."
What is so disheartening is hearing the anti-capitalists on the left try to dismiss self-employment by ignoring its impact on overall employment and trying to cast it as some form of economic desperation. Rather, it is American self-reliance at its best.
* "Home-based businesses make up 53 percent of the small business population and serve as incubators for many growing businesses. Home-based businesses face a unique regulatory environment that can restrain their expansion and growth. Notable regulatory barriers include complex IRS rules on home office deductions and the complicated test for determining independent contractor status. Moreover, local zoning laws may also discriminate against home-based businesses."
Pull the current tax code out by its roots and get government out of the way. That should take care of these issues!
* "Some of America's best-known companies are university spin-offs. Current research suggests that university spin-offs can have a dramatic effect on the economy of a region. These effects have been enhanced by government polices such as the Bayh-Dole Act, which gave universities the rights to inventions derived from federally funded research."
The full report is available here.
Posted November 11, 2004 06:49 AM
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Comments
anti-capitalists? Give me a break. This sentiment does not come from anti-capitalism, and this doesn't indicate the American has some higher sense of self-reliance than the rest of the world. That just seems ethno-centric and uninformed.
I think that the sentiment of dismissing self-employment as a valid counter to a less than stellar unemployment rate comes more from knowing people who have had to be "self-employed" because they couldn't find a job. It is hard for most self-employed people to stay that way for very long. There are no "benefits" in the traditional sense when you are self-employed. Insurance is overly expensive, and there is not sick leave if something happens. It is however, not all that hard to sustain for a while by being self-employed instead of being unemployed.
And yes, I am "on the left" as well as a small business owner.
Posted by: Jackson at November 12, 2004 04:22 PM
I use the term "anti-capitalist" intentionally, since the left views business ownership as a privilege bestowed by the government rather than a basic right to won property.
Posted by: Jeff at November 12, 2004 04:44 PM
All I am saying is that I am a small business owner, I am on "the left", and I completely disagree with your assumption.
Owning a business is a choice that every US citizen can make. It is hard work and not for everyone.
Posted by: Jackson at November 15, 2004 09:57 AM
at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. He consults with a variety of businesses on start-up and growth related issues, and with larger corporations on re-establishing entrepreneurial cultures within their organizations. Dr. Cornwall's current research interests include entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurial ethics. He has authored or co-authored four books.
