Let's get down to brass tacks. It's not the American people who are obsolete, it's the notion that corporations are something more significant to us than a plac

Let's get down to brass tacks. It's not the American people who are obsolete, it's the notion that corporations are something more significant to us than a place to temporarily lay down our investment bet for a brief while. Anything more is asking for heartbreak. Just because the government personifies a corporation doesn't mean we have to as individuals. Hows about this for a radical idea: We don't NEED our corporations, or our rich. No, seriously, we don't. "But who will make our products," you ask. Well, who does that now? Not us, not anymore. Does it matter? Consumer products will always be relatively easily manufactured, and why would we focus on making easy stuff? Look at the Germans: They have trade surpluses not because they make the latest Christmas toy craze or plates and sporks, but because they make precision tools, gauges, and other engineered products for industry. Their concept of manufacturing, called Mittelstand, sees small and mid-size companies -- over 90% of German companies are that size and they employ over 70% of the German population -- doing the lion's share of manufacturing, much of it for export to other countries. Germans are, as a people, self-reliant to the detriment of their corporations; we in the US are the opposite. But, if this article is true in any measure, that will have to change. It's unfortunate that Obama and others in our government don't place enough emphasis on things like YC and the SBA. We need _everyone else_ to see that there is an alternative to becoming a 99er and/or relying on either Big Government or Big Corporate (BG/C) to save us. BG/C will always stand together, whether through regulatory capture, (de)regulation that only serves to curtail competition from upstarts, or blatant TBTF corporate welfare. I know, Germans and Chinese small business ownership is a very cultural thing, and I can't pretend that it takes a certain mentality to start and run a business. But, that's the excitement of risk. I think everyone can agree that we're at a really low point in American morale. That "can do" spirit that used to pervade our psyche is replaced with rage and finger-pointing. What we need to do is learn to bootstrap again. I want people who have been or know someone who has been affected by this corporate "pivot" away from America to ask them what do they have to lose by starting their own business. The hustle atmosphere is what causes job growth in the first place. If ideas are too expensive to bootstrap, join or start an incubator. I see life science and biotech incubators in every r&d park in every major city in the US, more so than other technologies. Why? Pooling of resources, and volume discounts on lab and materials. It's all in how you look at things: It may be a lot harder to start a business than to work for a corporation, but what if it's impossible to find a job at one now? What is the possible alternative? Becoming a 99er, then switiching straight over to welfare? Is that really what people are resigning themselves to when the corporations won't hire them? Trite but apropos movie quote conclusion? "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."