• About
  • Article PDF
  • White Papers
  • Listening Tours​
  • Contact
  • Support Us
  • Advertising & Sponsorships
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
Times Of Entrepreneurship
Growth and Equity for a Changing World
Times Of Entrepreneurship
No Result
View All Result

Editor’s Note: Capital is Bad, Labor is Good

by Elizabeth Macbride
February 3, 2022
in Women Entrepreneurs
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

woman leaning against a brick wall in a white jacketA note from our editor, Elizabeth MacBride:

At our event last week, Nina Roberts, a stellar freelance writer, asked me why I thought big media doesn’t cover small business very much.

The left-wing media, the news outlets we’ve both written for and read, like The Atlantic, or The New York Times or The Washington Post, are ostensibly the champions of the underdogs. Small businesses are big-time underdogs in an increasingly monopolistic economy. (Lori Ioannou wrote about this evolving dynamic in the creator economy this week).

Capital is Bad, Labor is Good

One reason the big outlets don’t cover small business much, I believe, is that the big newsrooms hew to an increasingly rigid Progressive economic ideology: capital is bad, labor is good. They only have room for a certain number of underdogs, and small businesses are not instant victims. (The big media’s abandonment of the small business constituency to organizations like Fox may be one reason so many small business owners, an estimated 60%-plus, voted for Donald Trump.)

But there’s a more important underlying reason. If you include small businesses in serious conversations about the economy, the questions get more complicated and less emotional – and more solve-able.

Is the immigrant owner of a chain of small businesses who underpays employees a good guy or a bad guy? Is a small business that gets overwhelmed and doesn’t fulfill orders the object of outrage or sympathy? Increasing the rate of small business ownership is also one of the few changes (government safety net measures are others) that would put real wealth into the hands of people who don’t have it.

Small business is inherently gray, and it’s in the gray area, the nuances and the details, that we find shared language, and ultimately, agree on progress. I think that’s why small business doesn’t get much coverage in the big outlets. Both political sides are avoiding conversations that could lead to real change, in this case economic change. Change would mean letting go of the blindness that keeps us happy and the anger that in some ways sustains us.

Last week, I had all these thoughts in my mind as I was driving down my street when I saw a neighbor walking. When we were younger, we hung out together, during neighborhood snowstorm parties and summertime happy hours. Then, the country’s political issues moved onto my street. More words and phrases became unspeakable, slights were flying, and more things became incontrovertible signs that someone was good or bad.

I’m not sure how, or whether, my neighbor and I can get back to shared standards. But I pulled the car up beside him and rolled down the window. “Hey, I just wanted to say that I miss talking to you,’ I said, and I added that in general, I miss talking to people who are different than I am.

He said he’d been having some of the same thoughts. “Let’s hang out,” he said, and I agreed.



This story and others on Times of E are made possible by a sponsorship from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that provides access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity – regardless of race, gender, or geography. The Kansas City, Mo.-based foundation uses its grantmaking, research, programs, and initiatives to support the start and growth of new businesses, a more prepared workforce, and stronger communities. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect with www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn.

Tags: Editor's Note
Elizabeth Macbride

Elizabeth Macbride

A business journalist for 20 years, am the founder of Times of Entrepreneurship and the co-author of The New Builders.

Related Posts

Trailblazer: An Audacious Denver Entrepreneur Recruited An Xbox Creator To Develop Her Gaming Vision

Trailblazer: An Audacious Denver Entrepreneur Recruited An Xbox Creator To Develop Her Gaming Vision

by Lori Ioannou
January 18, 2023
0

The Last Gameboard cofounders Tim Schukar and Shail Mehta, also the CEO. Photo: courtesy of The Last Gameboard. Shail Mehta...

woman sitting alone on concrete steps, open computer on her lap

Commentary: The Pandemic Slammed Women Entrepreneurs. Hardly Any One Noticed.

by Dr. Carrie Santos
September 29, 2022
0

Young businesswoman using laptop while sitting on steps. Full length of female professional working on staircase. She is wearing long...

VC Spotlight: Women-Led Chloe Capital Signed On Bank of America As An LP

VC Spotlight: Women-Led Chloe Capital Signed On Bank of America As An LP

by Elizabeth Macbride
September 19, 2022
0

Funding for woman isn’t budging despite all the attention paid to it. In 2021, companies founded solely by women garnered...

Video: Armory Square Ventures’ Sawhney On The Rise of Upstate NY

Video: Armory Square Ventures’ Sawhney On The Rise of Upstate NY

by Elizabeth Macbride
June 19, 2022
0

This interview is one of a series of Women Entrepreneurs sponsored by YPO. You can see an interview of BankMobile...

Commentary: Women Now Face Pressure To Look Beautiful Everywhere They Go. Here’s How To Set Them Free.

Commentary: Women Now Face Pressure To Look Beautiful Everywhere They Go. Here’s How To Set Them Free.

by Shelley Hon
April 6, 2022
0

Shelley Hon (Photo Credit: Courtesy of Shelley Hon). Women have faced pressure to look beautiful since the beginning of time....

Black woman against a backdrop of West African spices

A West African Spice Company Comes into its Own as Flavors of Long-Overlooked Region Hit U.S. Tastebuds

by Nina Roberts
March 22, 2022
0

POKS Spices Founder Abena Foli. Photo illustration by Nina Roberts It’s becoming more common to see grains, chips, beverages, sauces...

Subscribe to Times of E’s Free Weekly Newsletter

Learn about the emerging ecosystem of diverse founders

Popular

  • Modern Mexican Food Brands Give Old El Paso The Boot

    Modern Mexican Food Brands Give Old El Paso The Boot

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Venture Spotlight: Realist Ventures In Connecticut Focuses on Biotech, Healthcare

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Top 20 U.S. University Entrepreneurship Competitions

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Trailblazer: An Audacious Denver Entrepreneur Recruited An Xbox Creator To Develop Her Gaming Vision

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Venture Capital Returns Are More Skewed Than People Realize

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Recent

Homepage Header

Opportunities for Entrepreneurial Leaders: Miami, Pittsburgh, Virtual

January 27, 2023
Venture Spotlight: Realist Ventures In Connecticut Focuses on Biotech, Healthcare

Venture Spotlight: Realist Ventures In Connecticut Focuses on Biotech, Healthcare

January 26, 2023
Modern Mexican Food Brands Give Old El Paso The Boot

Modern Mexican Food Brands Give Old El Paso The Boot

January 25, 2023

Recommended

  • Health
  • Climate
  • Deep Tech
  • Finance
  • Education
  • Women Entrepreneurs
  • Mentorship
Always Be Experimenting

How To Establish Sponsors for Your Startup: An Outline For Success

1 year ago
Social Distance Is Necessary. It Doesn’t Have To Be Social Isolation.

Social Distance Is Necessary. It Doesn’t Have To Be Social Isolation.

3 years ago
  • About
  • Partner
  • Bespoke Research
  • Listening Tours​
  • Contact
  • Support Us
  • Privacy Policy

(703-966-7357)

© 2020 Mondial Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
No Result
View All Result
  • Research
  • Finance
  • Women Entrepreneurs
  • New Builders
  • Ecosystem
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Editor’s Note

© 2022 Mondial Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Support Times of E

Times of E covers the emerging ecosystem of diverse founders.

With your support of our journalism, you will receive our weekly newsletter and one of these resources for free: 

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?