  A recent report by the Center for an Urban Future laments the
lack of “low-income” entrepreneurs in New York City. The entire
premise of the report is strange to me, the concept that our
most vulnerable populations should be responsible for creating
opportunities for employment. The very definition of poverty is
to be lacking the money to cover the basic needs of food,
clothing, shelter and healthcare. If you can’t do that, how can
you choose to spend money to start a business when it will
ultimately mean yet more physical sacrifice, possibly at the
expense of your health, sanity, and what little stability one
might have? The risks inherent in entrepreneurship are such that
the poor frankly cannot afford it, evident in the questionable
success of micro-lending programs worldwide. These pull-
yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps perspectives are short-sighted
products of the privileged, relieving governments and
policymakers of the responsibility to abandon austerity measures
and private interests and invest in the