2026-08-05
9 分钟Welcome to Editor's Picks.
I'm Charlotte Howard.
I'm the co-host of our American podcast, Checks and Balance.
You are about to hear an article we have chosen from the most recent edition of The Economist.
Thanks for tuning in.
Several years ago, Zachary Dunn was selling cars in a small Georgia town when he realized
that he was sick of making other people rich.
Soon he quit and began hawking hats emblazoned with slogans online with a college roommate.
Recent hits include Daddy and Put It On My Husband's Tab.
Their business, the Mad Hatter Company, is set to make eight figures in sales this year.
Mr Dunn says he will never work for someone else again.
He is not alone.
Since the beginning of 2024, an average of 466,000 new business applications
have been filed each month in America, according to data from the Census Bureau.
This June saw 531,000 applications, nearly double the average monthly figure
in 2019. Americans have long loved the idea of being their own boss.
The term itself originates from colonial New Yorkers' twisting of the Dutch word bus.
For at least two decades, around 60% of them have said they would prefer
to start their own business than to toil for someone else, according to Gallup upholster.
Yet until recently, fewer and fewer were living out that dream.