>there are over 4000 listed companies in the US with a total

>>1804645
>children
>students
>retirees
>working at privately held small businesses

>>1804645
There are like 4000 firms operating in just a mid-sized neighborhood of Chicago or New York.

>listed companies
There are businesses besides publicly listed ones, you dummy

Some of us work for various pieces of government.

We keep a low profile because we dont want to risk everybody figuring how much we dont do.

>>1804680
lets be honest here, 99% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years. So you have to wonder what the hell 272.7 million people are doing with their lives.

>>1804697
Something like 50% of small businesses fail in the first 50 years. Still pretty shitty odds but that oft repeated figure you used (people usually write that its 90%, actually) is bullshit.

If 99% of small businesses failed in the first 5 years nobody would start a business and nobody would bother loaning to small businesses.