ECONOMY CRISIS CREATES ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

"When you are hardest hit, when you are most desperate, that's when the best of you will be born if you go against the challenge."
quote by DieHardX

I read with interest the Digital Rules article 'BACK TO THE 1970s' by Rich Karlgaard (page 30, November 10, 2008 Forbes Asia magazine) where he argued that high taxes, inflation and political blunders killed the stock market but some U.S. entrepreneurs were just getting started in the 1970s. The online version is available here at Forbes.com. He gives a few examples: Southwest Airlines, FedEx, Microsoft, Genentech, Apple, SAS Institute and Oracle.

An excerpt from the article:
"I don't think it was a coincidence that entrepreneurship thrived during the 1970s. High income taxes and a lousy stock market--each made worse by inflation--drove bright young people into unconventional careers. Picture Bill Gates in the 1970s, with an SAT score of 1590 and a burning ambition. What existing jobs could possibly have satisfied young Gates? Wall Street was a sleepy place back then. IBM was a blue-suit, white-shirt workplace. Bell Labs stimulated the brain but offered little adrenalin. Entrepreneurship was where it was at.

If Barack Obama wins the presidency with large majorities in the House and Senate, we know that taxes on income, savings and investment will go up. We know that inflation will quickly follow any economic recovery. High taxes and inflation! Which means, like in the 1970s, some of the better career paths will be found in entrepreneurship. Startups pay lower salaries, but one can build wealth behind the tax curtain and harvest one's gains in more favorable times.

Entrepreneurship based on innovation--this is where the action will be. I want to be there, don't you?"