Free Republic

<p>The creation myth of American wealth is almost always rooted in the entrepreneur.</p> <p>It's the two kids who start a computer company in their garage or dorm room. Or the former standup comic who creates form-shaping undergarments, or the South African immigrant who creates a new electric car and private space program.</p>

One hundred and fifty years after twin defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg destroyed the South’s quest for independence, the region is again on the rise. People and jobs are flowing there, and Northerners are perplexed by the resurgence of America’s home of the ignorant, the obese, the prejudiced and exploited, the religious and the undereducated. Responding to new census data showing the Lone Star State is now home to eight of America’s 15 fastest-growing cities, Gawker asked: “What is it that makes Texas so attractive? Is it the prisons? The racism? The deadly weather? The deadly animals? The deadly crime?...

Exactly the same reason Obama doesn't like  small business OR teen workers I guess... could contaminate the NEA's K-12 brainwashing As KGB/Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov made clear, America's public education system -which demoralizes kids and keeps them pliable/stupid- has been infiltrated by low standards of achievement/morality + communist doctrine for decades now. The self-hating, unthinking drones it was meant to produce have already helped to elect Barack Obama -as dangerous a post turtle as there's ever been- to the most powerful office in the world, great. But 13 years of far-left indoctrination by the neo-Soviet zombies of the NEA are apparently...

In an FT column today Dave Eggers pines for the days when schools taught metal and woodworking. “It doesn’t all have to be keyboards and screens, does it?” he asks. It certainly doesn’t. Many small business in the U.S. are becoming part of a new wave of small-scale and super premium manufacturing. There’s any number of examples to look at, like the plumbing parts manufacturing in Brooklyn, the artisanal chocolate makers and the distillers in Boston. There’s also no shortage of stories focusing on Brooklyn’s manufacturing boom. Turns out we are making things with our hands even if schools don’t...

Fred Deluca, the founder of privately-held Subway Restaurants, said government regulations are hurting small businesses and that this environment has prevented entrepreneurs from creating value in the market. "If I started Subway today, Subway would not exist," Deluca told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Wednesday. (VIDEO AT LINK) Deluca said the environment for entrepreneurs in the U.S. has "continuously gotten worse because there are more and more regulations. It's tough for people to get into business, especially a small business." Effects of Obamacare The Subway founder pointed to a number of government regulations that are degrading the business environment for...

A third of all small business owners in a recent survey say their family life and their relationships have improved as a result of owning their own business. Small business owners also are more likely to be married than other workers are, researchers found. Sixty percent of the 1,100 small business owners in the poll say they are married, which is 10 percentage points higher than the national average. Small business owners also place a high emphasis on their personal relationships. Eighty-seven percent say they value their personal relationships at least as much as their business. And 80 percent say...

The House voted Friday to cancel the annual diversity visa lottery and give those immigration visas to high-tech foreign-born who earn advanced degrees from American universities, as Republicans powered through their chamber the first major immigration bill since the election. The 245-139 vote was a test of the GOP’s plan to tackle immigration piecemeal, and while the bill passed, the strong opposition from Democrats suggests that Republicans’ strategy will face difficult hurdles. And while the chief selling point of the bill was to boost green cards given to science, technology, engineering and technology students, the bigger fight came over Republicans’...

A free six-week program for recent college graduates and career-changers helps students get the chops to land jobs at innovative startup companies. To Ian Markowitz, a recent graduate of Bentley College, his Boston Startup School instructors' request sounded like a simple errand. "They asked the sales class to go out and get lunch for all 72 students in the program," he says. Then came the catch: They weren't allowed to spend any money. In what would become a daily task, Markowitz and his fellow students sought out local restaurants to donate lunch to their hungry classmates. Though the task seemed...

(GRAPH AT LINK)Entrepreneurs — and the innovation they generate — are the beating heart of the U.S. economy. Or at least they have been in the past. But the heart of America’s economy isn’t doing so well these days. In fact, the sorry state of Startup Nation is just another example of how the supposed recovery is anything but.(GRAPH AT LINK)This is all outlined a new report by economist Tim Kane of the Hudson Institute: The state of entrepreneurship in the United States is, sadly, weaker than ever. There are fewer new firms being formed today than two years ago...

While Democrats have insisted that Republicans ‘built their entire convention around something the president never actually said’ and whatnot, there were certainly enough entrepreneurial, hardworking, small-business-owning Americans who took umbrage with President Obama’s candid comment as a startlingly frank admission of his worldview to have the White House scrambling to redefine the president’s remarks. Too little, too late, though — finally, Obama’s mere words were really resonating with people again, but in all the wrong ways. Two videos, the first a fun new remix from Hugh Atkin: (VIDEO AT LINK) And the second, a simple breakdown from Mark Matson: “Yes,...

What makes cities grow? This question is the subject of countless magazine articles peddling lists of “best cities” and is fodder for consulting firms looking to sell advice. But in reality, the most reliable measure of a city’s future health is whether employment is expanding or contracting. Declining cities are not home to growing businesses that need people. Only true believers in the come-back story would move to Detroit, Cleveland, or Buffalo right now — the three big cities with the highest unemployment rates in the nation. So what features of a city correlate with expanding employment? The index-making experts...

The official theme of the GOP convention Wednesday night was "We Can Change That," but that didn’t stop several of the speakers from revisiting Tuesday’s theme, the base-rallying battle cry: “We Built It.” The message: The righteous exploitation of President Obama’s “You Didn’t Build That” gaffe isn’t going away. Ever since the president stood before a crowd of supporters in Roanoke, Va., on July 13 and, while explaining why the wealthy should pay more in taxes, uttered the infamous words “If you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen,” conservatives have hammered him for his disregard...

On the road with Mitt Romney in Ohio today, Ginger Gibson flags some non-standard sections in the candidate's stump speech, specifically mentioning women in business: "Just a word to the women entrepreneurs out there. If we become, if we become president and vice president we want to speak to you, we want to help you. Women in this country are more likely to start businesses than men. Women need our help. ... I want to make sure we help entrepreneurs and innovators, I want to speak to the women of America who have dreams who begin businesses in their homes...

Ideology: The battle is on between entrepreneurship and crony socialism, between candidates who believe innovative risk-takers create jobs and an administration that believes all blessings flow from the government. By President Obama's logic, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps didn't really win all those medals on his record-setting run. The credit should go to those who built the pools he trained in and filled them with water. Building on the reaction to President Obama's disparagement of entrepreneurs and businessmen large and small, the GOP at next week's Republican National Convention will dedicate Tuesday night to the theme of "We Built This!" Speakers...

Nathan Duszynski, a 13-year-old whose hot dog cart was shut down by city officials in Holland, Mich., is now homeless, along with his disabled parents. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy first reported the story. Nathan had saved up money for a hot dog cart to help his parents pay their bills. His mother suffers from epilepsy and his father suffers from multiple sclerosis, limiting their ability to work. The family survives on $1,300 a month in disability assistance, food stamps and medicaid, but has struggled to stay afloat. “Nate and I are now in a shelter,” Nathan’s mother Lynette...

This past week the President made what seemed like an outlandish claim at the time, that those folks that are successful in this country owe their success to others. Mr. President you are right in more ways than you know. When it comes right down to it we all owe whatever living we are able to scratch out of this miserable economy to the energy industry. You see Mr. President, your teleprompter, which you love so much, would not function without power which, by in large, is produced by the same fossil fuels that you hate. Your presidential limousine will...

A couple of days ago, I posted a blog criticizing President Obama over remarks that I perceived to be insulting toward entrepreneurs. In particular, I quoted the following excerpt from his speech: “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Since that time, I’ve witnessed a backlash against my post and those of other conservatives who have made similar arguments. While I don’t intend to respond to every backlash like this, I believe that the arguments being made are credible enough to merit a response in this instance. The people castigating myself and...

To call Barack Obama arrogant is an understatement. To call him clueless about the lives of real Americans is the absolute defense of truth. To call his mouth the best friend conservatives may have this year, could be very true. The arrogant man who has built nothing in his life has now shot off his mouth. What did he say, why is the drive by media so interested in not covering this story and why must conservatives capitalize on it? Obama really shot his mouth off when he was speaking at Roanoke, Virginia on Friday. He said: “If you’ve got...

Last night, President Barack Obama delivered some telling remarks to a fire station full of people in Roanoke, Virgina. I’ll save you the trouble of reading the (long and uninspired) speech and provide you with the most interesting part: “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” – President Barack Obama, July 13th, 2012. It would be easy to respond with something along the lines of, “Somebody else made that happen? Who? Who magically imagined the product or service, started the business, built it up, and created the jobs? Who was it? The...

Good evening, Mr. President, esteemed members for the proposition, and ladies and gentlemen. I am truly honored to be here tonight for this first Silicon Valley Oxford Union debate. I am particularly honored to be here speaking for entrepreneurs – because for me, this debate is not just an intellectual exercise, but moral choice. And it is not a debate about who participates, but who leads.