[WAR] ... and AP - now IP

[juan]

	speaking of state-chartered business here's an interesting
	one...

	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Gobain

	"French multinational corporation, founded in 1665" - alive
	and kicking... 



> > > Now it's much easier to get
> > > your hands on funding than it was then, whether it's a small
> > > business loan, SBIR, venture or angel capital, or crowdfunding.  
> >
> >         And that's probably not true either. Well obviously the
> >         telecom side of things is better today than it was in 1700,
> > but the finance side of thing not necessarily so.
> >  
> 
> I think I'd need to read examples of small businesses getting
> financed in 1700.

	Well, I don't have any concrete examples at hand. Who knows
	what kind of records have survived about small businesses in the
	1700, let alone details about their financing.
	
	My guess is based on a few facts anyway : 1700 was more or less
	the peak of the so called enlightenment in europe. There was a
	more or less functioning gold standard. Taxes were probably
	lower than they are today. There was banking, although I don't
	know if it was accesible to small investors and borrowers, etc.

	At any rate, I don't think the patent system of that time
	necessarily fixed the problem of relative lack of capital.

	But yes, you are probably right that getting funded is easier
	today than it used to be. 

	


> Knowing a number of people who have started small
> businesses now, it seems obvious to me that the situation for
> financing is better now than it was then. Which is not to say it
> doesn't still need a lot of improvement before it's "good" in any
> absolute sense.
>