I found this article which says 66% of businesses fail within 4 years according to the Small Business Administration: http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/bus

I found this article which says 66% of businesses fail within 4 years according to the Small Business Administration: http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm That was written in 2006 when we were in a boom (unjustified as it might have been). I'd imagine those numbers are much higher now. So basically Friedman is advocating new graduates go into a field where they have around a 3 in 4 chance of failing. Given there are only 1 or 2 unemployed people for every 10 in the broad market I'd say that's bad advice.