4 ms·

The author posits that three metrics have to be turned around in order to save the middle class: (1) the full-time job rate, (2) the number of publicly-listed c

by tboyd47 10y ago

The author posits that three metrics have to be turned around in order to save the middle class: (1) the full-time job rate, (2) the number of publicly-listed companies trading on the US exchanges, and (3) the number of new "startups" (which author seems to use as a blanket term for all small businesses) You can't expect the number of small businesses to increase if the vast majority of people in the country have no idea how to run a business. The cultural norm in America is to entrust the doing of business to the elites of major corporations and aspire to be lifer employees for them. This worked until these companies started buying each other up, blowing their profits on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends, and laying their experienced workers off in the 1990s. The reality changed very dramatically, but the culture did not change with it. Our education system is very much biased towards STEM and liberal arts, not business and trade. It is very, very odd contrasting with such an aggressively pro-capitalist foreign policy.

gavinpc 10y ago
> the vast majority of people in the country have no idea how to run a business Chicken and egg problem, but most people (myself included) don't know how to prioritize the use of small businesses, either. How many days go by before you interact with a small business in any way? How much of this is due to habit and choices you made long ago?
a3n 10y ago
I think more people would start businesses, and go through the learning curve of running a business, if it weren't for the state of health insurance. Unless you're rich, the only affordable way to get good health insurance is through an employer. If you've got kids, or some expensive medical condition in your family, a lot of people are going to suck it up and work for the man, for health insurance.
- tboyd47 10y ago
  That's another factor that's unlikely to change. However, as fewer and fewer young people choose to have kids, we could at least expect those people to take a risk if they knew what they were doing.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- soylentcola 10y ago
  Purely anecdotal but this is the massive, major reason I've not seriously considered starting my own business as well. Hell, I don't even have kids but generally, it's the lack of "stability", whether real or imagined, in health care and other less formalized forms of insurance (likelihood of stable income over 5-10 year period) that keep me away. I do all sorts of work with photography, video, multimedia, and that general intersection of tech and the arts. In my case, do I want to start up a production company or identify a market for people who want or need these sorts of services and contract with them? Or do I find a gig with a company or university that pays a decent salary, includes health insurance, retirement investment, and the usual benefits? It's pretty obvious from my post which way I've gone despite the fact that the work isn't always inspiring or challenging or terribly lucrative. Because at the end of the day, it pays me that middle-class salary and offers some promise of stability. Could I be laid off or my position cut? Sure. But if I had to put a wager on it, the odds of unemployment/underemployment are much lower this way. Anyway, I don't intend to complain. My field is one of those where you may consider yourself lucky to have steady, non-gig work and I do consider myself fortunate to have a steady income, benefits, and some savings while doing something at least somewhat related to my interests and skillset. But if we're looking for the psychological picture of why people might be trading entrepreneurship with the potential for even greater earnings and contribution to the overall economy, I'd say the major issue by far is stability. There's not a whole lot of "safety net" in place for someone who wants to start a small business. When you constantly hear about them shutting down due to competition from big corps or dips in the economy or just shitty luck, the effect it has on most prudent adults is to make the prospect of entrepreneurship seem awfully risky and likely to leave you back on the job hunt within a few years.
  - tboyd47 10y ago
    I'm in the same boat as you, but people like us who actually have a career they're confident about are the exception, not the norm. Immigrants start small businesses all the time without a safety net. Restaurants, smoothie shops, tailors, cell phone stores, contractors, convenience stores, etc. are often small businesses owned by foreigners (anecdotally at least, in my experience). Why do we always say that we need a safety net when we interact with these sorts of businesses all the time? Is it because we have big, amazing careers ahead of us as employees that we can't risk? Or is it just a cultural perception that those occupations are mostly for foreigners?
- nkassis 10y ago
  That's a huge factor. It's anecdotal but it's one of the factors that I feel prevent me from considering it and coworkers I've talked about entrepreneurship states similar concerns.
- Roboprog 10y ago
  You found me out! Spot on & upvoted.
- ryandrake 10y ago
  That and the fact that there exists almost nothing in terms of a safety net. If you're not in tip top health and independently wealthy already, entrepreneurship is, by design, an all-or-nothing gamble.
djrogers 10y ago
> The cultural norm in America is to entrust the doing of business to the elites of major corporations and aspire to be lifer employees for them. That's a very loaded opinion, and is likely colored by your experiences. The facts show a different story though - most businesses are small businesses, they employ about half of US workers, and 60-65% of new jobs are created by small businesses.
- tboyd47 10y ago
  Thank you for educating me on the statistics. I was indeed speaking from experience. Is your experience different from what I described?

by tboyd47 10y ago

gavinpc 10y ago

> the vast majority of people in the country have no idea how to run a business Chicken and egg problem, but most people (myself included) don't know how to prioritize the use of small businesses, either. How many days go by before you interact with a small business in any way? How much of this is due to habit and choices you made long ago?

a3n 10y ago

I think more people would start businesses, and go through the learning curve of running a business, if it weren't for the state of health insurance. Unless you're rich, the only affordable way to get good health insurance is through an employer. If you've got kids, or some expensive medical condition in your family, a lot of people are going to suck it up and work for the man, for health insurance.

tboyd47 10y ago
That's another factor that's unlikely to change. However, as fewer and fewer young people choose to have kids, we could at least expect those people to take a risk if they knew what they were doing.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
soylentcola 10y ago
Purely anecdotal but this is the massive, major reason I've not seriously considered starting my own business as well. Hell, I don't even have kids but generally, it's the lack of "stability", whether real or imagined, in health care and other less formalized forms of insurance (likelihood of stable income over 5-10 year period) that keep me away. I do all sorts of work with photography, video, multimedia, and that general intersection of tech and the arts. In my case, do I want to start up a production company or identify a market for people who want or need these sorts of services and contract with them? Or do I find a gig with a company or university that pays a decent salary, includes health insurance, retirement investment, and the usual benefits? It's pretty obvious from my post which way I've gone despite the fact that the work isn't always inspiring or challenging or terribly lucrative. Because at the end of the day, it pays me that middle-class salary and offers some promise of stability. Could I be laid off or my position cut? Sure. But if I had to put a wager on it, the odds of unemployment/underemployment are much lower this way. Anyway, I don't intend to complain. My field is one of those where you may consider yourself lucky to have steady, non-gig work and I do consider myself fortunate to have a steady income, benefits, and some savings while doing something at least somewhat related to my interests and skillset. But if we're looking for the psychological picture of why people might be trading entrepreneurship with the potential for even greater earnings and contribution to the overall economy, I'd say the major issue by far is stability. There's not a whole lot of "safety net" in place for someone who wants to start a small business. When you constantly hear about them shutting down due to competition from big corps or dips in the economy or just shitty luck, the effect it has on most prudent adults is to make the prospect of entrepreneurship seem awfully risky and likely to leave you back on the job hunt within a few years.
- tboyd47 10y ago
  I'm in the same boat as you, but people like us who actually have a career they're confident about are the exception, not the norm. Immigrants start small businesses all the time without a safety net. Restaurants, smoothie shops, tailors, cell phone stores, contractors, convenience stores, etc. are often small businesses owned by foreigners (anecdotally at least, in my experience). Why do we always say that we need a safety net when we interact with these sorts of businesses all the time? Is it because we have big, amazing careers ahead of us as employees that we can't risk? Or is it just a cultural perception that those occupations are mostly for foreigners?
nkassis 10y ago
That's a huge factor. It's anecdotal but it's one of the factors that I feel prevent me from considering it and coworkers I've talked about entrepreneurship states similar concerns.
Roboprog 10y ago
You found me out! Spot on & upvoted.
ryandrake 10y ago
That and the fact that there exists almost nothing in terms of a safety net. If you're not in tip top health and independently wealthy already, entrepreneurship is, by design, an all-or-nothing gamble.

djrogers 10y ago

> The cultural norm in America is to entrust the doing of business to the elites of major corporations and aspire to be lifer employees for them. That's a very loaded opinion, and is likely colored by your experiences. The facts show a different story though - most businesses are small businesses, they employ about half of US workers, and 60-65% of new jobs are created by small businesses.

tboyd47 10y ago
Thank you for educating me on the statistics. I was indeed speaking from experience. Is your experience different from what I described?