Kauffman Foundation CEO Carl Schramm comments on CNN on the economic crisis. A recent Kauffman survey found that while the majority of respondents considered entrepreneurship integral to the U.S.’s economy’s success, and while almost half of them “reported seeing entrepreneurial opportunities in the current economy, … only a little more than one-quarter said they would consider seizing them within the next five years, down from 35 percent when we asked this question in December. Seventy-one percent said that in today’s economic climate, it has become more difficult to start a business.”
To foster entrepreneurship Schramm suggests that
Our tax regimes, our regulatory structures, our emerging view of risk and the obligations of individuals to commit to the market’s success by advancing their own self-interest are all parts of the entrepreneurial ecosystem that is precious to our future.
They cannot be turned into blunt instruments that choke off entrepreneurs when the real target is the leadership of financial institutions. Congress and all policymakers need to be a bit more reflective and a little less reflexive.
That means focusing on the measures that will support and advance the success of entrepreneurs in America: building a more skilled workforce immigrants, creating a more balanced system of intellectual property rights, reducing regulatory burden and unwarranted liability threats for small businesses, continuing to pursue open trading markets and reforming the employer-based health-care system.
