Not Letting the Man Keep them Down

For all the economic misery out there, I remain optimistic over the resilience of entrepreneurs - though I waver over how big a threat the response of government will be.

Despite the statist power grabs, maybe we are approaching a Libertarian Moment (Reason). I'd like to believe that just like programs like QuickTax/TurboTax help navigate arcane and complex tax legislation (though it may not have helped US Treasury Secretary Geithner via Megan McArdle), and that technology allows us to more rapidly keep ahead of and navigate the barriers that government erect.

Despite minimal coverage of "Tea Party Protests" by traditional media (that includes Fox News), the turnouts for protests over the encroachment of government and government spending grow (Instapundit); spending that seems more about rewarding political friends and undeclared ideological pursuits (Reason) than 'saving the economy'. The powers that be, ignore the anger at their peril (Club for Growth). The simple response to the mock outrage at the Capitol over "Wall Street Greed" is to point out it was far preferable to greed for power (theAtlantic) that enabled and created the incentives that resulted in this crisis.

I'm just ranting at this point, but my latest cause for optimism comes indirectly, buried in a WSJ article about the changing face of venture capital:

New technologies make it easier for small tech companies to get off the ground with relatively little investment, broadening the pool of potential companies that could become big businesses. The trend is forcing venture capitalists -- which stand to reap bigger rewards if they invest at an early stage -- to come up with new ways to cast a wider net.

Barriers to entry continue to drop. The irony is that it's capitalism and markets that are making ideas more important than the capital that enables them.