The Atlantic (April Issue)
In the 1950s, most “Americans had a favorable opinion of large businesses.” These days, they only hold small businesses in esteem. “A majority of Americans now view large businesses as self-serving and self-dealing.” But these perceptions are based on myths. “Disdain for large businesses exaggerates their malfeasance while misapprehending their vital role in continued American success.” And that leads to more problems. “Feeding off the popular esteem for small business, policy makers are handicapping Big Business—in the process lowering productivity, dampening innovation, and hurting U.S. global competitiveness.”
Tags: Disdain, Esteem, Favorable, Global competitiveness, Innovation, Large businesses, Malfeasance, Myths, Opinion, Perceptions, Productivity, Self-dealing, Self-serving, Small businesses, U.S.
US News & World Report (March 20)
Though large gaps exist between urban and rural populations, common perceptions, like “urban poverty,” are often rooted in misconception. In the U.S., poverty is actually “higher in rural areas…. In fact, levels of rural poverty were often double those in urban areas throughout the 1950s and 1960s.” In 2015, the gap had narrowed, but the poverty rate still stood at 16.7% of the rural population and 13.0% of the urban population.
