American Entrepreneurship Is Dying

Via Jim Pethokoukis, here’s a frightening chart:

Free markets depend on creative destruction. Old ways of doing things are constantly replaced by new, better ways of doing things. So, we should want to see a steady number of jobs created by new businesses, but as the chart shows we’re not seeing that at all. Which means a lot of things, not the least of which is that established big business is being effectively protected from competition from new start-ups.

That’s not a good thing for our country, and it illustrate’s a point our friends on the left are loathe to admit: Big government begets big business.

It’s not at all unusual to see big business support expanding government regulations. Though Walmart is derided by the left for low-wages and skimpy benefits, the company actually supports government minimum wage policy and health insurance mandates. Manufacturing and energy giants are often seen supporting new environmental regulations too. Now, you’d think these companies would have an interest in opposing policies that increase their cost of doing business, but in truth these companies support more taxes and regulation because they’re big enough to absorb the cost. Their smaller, younger competitors often are not.

Every new bit of red tape the government implements makes entry into the market place harder for new businesses. Given that the number of laws and regulations on the books increases under Republican leadership, and explodes under Democrat leadership, the fact that we’re seeing a decline in the number of jobs created by start-ups isn’t surprising.

Government should focus on making it easier to start a business, not harder.