In The US, New Businesses Surge in 2009!

In the US, the Kauffman Institute claims a record surge of new business activities in 2009.
Here is an excerpt of the press release "Despite Recession US Entrepreneurial activity Rate Rises In 2009 To Highest Rate in 14 years" (hat tip: Mark Perry)

"Rather than making history for its deep recession and record unemployment, 2009 might instead be remembered as the year business startups reached their highest level in 14 years – even exceeding the number of startups during the peak 1999-2000 technology boom.

"According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, a leading indicator of new-business creation in the United States, the number of new businesses created during the 2007–2009 recession years increased steadily year to year. In 2009, the 340 out of 100,000 adults who started businesses each month represent a 4 percent increase over 2008, or 27,000 more starts per month than in 2008 and 60,000 more starts per month than in 2007.

"Challenging economic times can serve as a motivational boost to individuals who have been laid-off to become their own employers and future job creators,"said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. "Because entrepreneurs drive the economy, the growth in 2009 business startups is encouraging and hopefully points to a hopeful trend in terms of our economic recovery.”

Read the rest of Kauffman's press release here.

My comment: While the Kauffman institute does provide some details over geographical distribution of entrepreneurial activities (press releases naturally provides limited info), it doesn't make a breakdown on the industries where these activities have seen the surges.

My suspicion is that they'd probably be centered on technology or technology related activities.

But the point is, it's simply wrong to write off the elan of entrepreneurs, in spite of all the troubles (aftereffects of bubbles cycles, government intervention, bailouts, prospective high taxes, growth of government relative to the economy and etc..).

The ramifications of the deepening knowledge based economy is one of the x factors that can sustain free enterprise.

Video: Milton Friedman on Greed

From the Heritage Blog,

Some excerpts from Friedman's terse but awesomely crisp rejoinder on capitalism's "greed"...

``The world runs on individuals pursuing their selfish interest. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus."

``In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you are talking about, the only cases in recorded history are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you wanna know where the masses are worst off is the kind of the society that departs from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear, that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold the candle to the productive activities that are unleashed via free enterprise."

``And what does reward virtue? You think the communist commissar rewards virtue? Do you think a Hitler rewards virtue? Do you think, excuse me…if you’ll pardon me, American presidents reward virtue? Do they choose their appointees from the basis of the virtues of the people appointed or on the basis of political clout? Is it really true that political self interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest?"