
“No democracy can survive without a thriving middle class and entrepreneurs are our job creators.”
Future Proofing You (2021)
in 1986 introduction to Self-Help, Samuel Smiles originally published in 1859.
1980s
“No democracy can survive without a thriving middle class and entrepreneurs are our job creators.”
Future Proofing You (2021)
Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section IX, p. 400 (See also: David Ricardo and aggregate demand)
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)
Context: But such consumption is not consistent with the actual habits of the generality of capitalists. The great object of their lives is to save a fortune, both because it is their duty to make a provision for their families, and because they cannot spend an income with so much comfort to themselves, while they are obliged perhaps to attend a counting house for seven or eight hours a day...
... There must therefore be a considerable class of persons who have both the will and power to consume more material wealth then they produce, or the mercantile classes could not continue profitably to produce so much more than they consume.
Source: "Jesus Christ and the Movement for Social Justice" (1911), p. 44
“An entrepreneur in debt is an entrepreneur in business.”
Anyone Can Do It
“I see myself as a classic middle market entrepreneur, and this is the role I fulfil.”
which is not to say that they lack it!
V. Coda
Why Not Socialism? (2009)