I read the other day that 2020 set a record for most businesses created. I also just learned that grad student pay scale hasn't changed even a single penny since I started grad school in 2006. Those two things, while seemingly unrelated, definitely are.
yeah that "most businesses created" line gets used by capitalists a lot. They then skip right over the fact that 80% of small businesses fail in five years, or the fact that the businesses that got started because the entrepreneurs behind them had no other choice are a lot less fit than the ones who put some planning into it. Got a buddy. He's older. His wife died shortly before the pandemic, and then the pandemic hit, and he decided being an IT guy sucked so he retired. He's gonna make watches now. Now - he taught me watch repair. he knows his shit, mechanically. But I watched him sit in front of a rose engine and failwhale the shit out of it for two days. dude can fix shit? but fixing shit is different than making shit and "beats workin'" is not the entrepreneurial spark that launches a new era. School my wife graduated from wanted to hire her to teach a couple courses. They charged her $200k for the education and were willing to go all the way to $17 an hour. Had to do some calcs for insurance the other day. The FTE for our naturopaths is $436 an hour. this kills the schoolI also just learned that grad student pay scale hasn't changed even a single penny since I started grad school in 2006.
When I read that fact I assumed that a large percentage were people selling wares on Etsy, but still, I found it encouraging. I wonder if it says anything about a basic income, since a lot of those people who started businesses were probably getting extended supplemental unemployment as a backstop. I'm sure 2021/22 are going to see a lot of business failures (to the extent people stop selling on Etsy or whatever), but a percentage, and hopefully a statistically significant one, will stick around. (Also, $17/hr for a class is criminal at any level (and I include preschool in that) even if it includes prep time.)
Every WSJ or NYT or WaPo profile is someone who decided to make their grandma's jambalaya to sell as box lunches to people sick of cooking or artisanal toothpicks or deer scrotum coin pouches or whatever. I'm sure there are people out there doing mundane shit that isn't getting profiled but the overwhelming majority of it is "I'm not getting money for shit that I don't enjoy, I might as well not get money for shit that I do enjoy." Which, sure. I support that choice. deer scrotes for glory. But when they all go tango uniform the story will be "business conditions" not "Softbank tried to give $47b to a guy who marketed onesies with kneepads."
This speaks volumes The only downside is Generation Hustle is entirely too chummy about the scammers. They are not portrayed as criminals.