From USA Today, Steve Strauss makes the case for entrepreneurship and small business bringing the economy out of its funk:
Entrepreneurship is the answer. Small business to the rescue. Foster startup fever.
In America, small business has always been The Answer. More than 99% of businesses with payrolls in this country are small businesses, according to the Small Business Administration, and those small businesses historically employ more than half of all workers and create 80% of new jobs.
Small business is, and always has been, the engine that moves the country forward. So if the stagnant political class really wants to get this country moving again, and help reassert our rightful place as the most innovative, entrepreneurial, industrious place on the globe, they need to start enacting policies and programs that do one thing – help small businesses and entrepreneurs.
What does this mean policy wise? Mr. Strauss writes:
“Reform Regulations: To promote a truly entrepreneurship-centered business climate, reform tax and regulatory environments so as to make it easier, faster, and less costly for entrepreneurs to set up enterprises.
“Create Entrepreneur-Friendly Institutions: Introduce entrepreneurship-friendly support institutions that provide technological knowledge, market information, business know-how, certification services, access to capital, and other essential business support.
“Understand Entrepreneurship: Make it known that entrepreneurs are positive agents of social change, wealth creation, transparency, sustainability, and innovation.”
A comprehensive 21st Century Entrepreneurship Act would include tax reform, and regulatory ease. It would include, as SBA administrator Karen Mills recently wrote, immigration reform so we can again attract the best and brightest entrepreneurs and engineers to our country. It would increase access to capital. It would help more startups start up. It would foster business incubators and programs like Business Matchmaking.
