Came across a great article in one of the Silicon Valley technology newsletters I subscribe to — guest blogger Steve Blank lays out his somewhat contrarian viewpoint that we (the US specifically, but my read is that it is equally applicable to the world’s free-market, open economies) may be just entering the “golden age of entrepreneurship and 
business”… as opposed to the “going-to-hell-in-a-hand basket” view of our economies with high unemployment, large structural deficits and huge debt loads, stressed out consumers, etc, etc.
Steve’s article (When It’s Darkest, Men See the Stars) is well worth reading. In my view, it does a great job of capturing how many of the barriers to entry of building new businesses have been reduced to rubble, clearing the way for inspired people to get out and do their own thing, creating new business successes in their wake. I generally subscribe to his belief that we are entering a new golden age — as with all golden age introductions I suspect we’re talking 20 or 30 years before the dust settles and we clearly see we’re on a different path.
