WAIT! STOP! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GOING GALT!

Billionaire CEOs and right-wing pundits tell us that the soul-crushing nature of Barack Obama's relentless socialism is destroying individual initiative. Americans, however, apparently haven't gotten the memo:

Entrepreneurial activity is up 60 percent in the United States over last year, reaching its highest level since 2005, according to a new report.

About 12.3 percent of U.S. adults -- around 29 million -- are involved in entrepreneurial activity, the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor issued by Babson College and Baruch College reported.

This rise marks the the first uptick in Americans starting or running new businesses since 2008. The rate had been steadily falling for the past three years....

Fewer adults reported starting businesses out of necessity this year than last, signaling a shift in entrepreneurial motivation. "In the depths of the recession, we saw a tremendous increase in people starting businesses out of necessity. In 2011, the entre­pre­neur­ship rate was pulled up primarily by those starting businesses to pursue promising opportunities," Donna J. Kelley, Babson associate professor of entre­pre­neur­ship and lead researcher said....

I have mixed feelings about this -- while survey respondents may say they're not starting businesses out of a desperate sense of "necessity," surely they're doing it because they can see that the economy still isn't creating enough jobs. And a lot of these businesses are going to fail (as many start-ups do in good and bad times).

But still: Fox-addled plutocrats may whine about the detrimental effects of Obama policies on their precious animal spirits, and Mitt Romney and his right-wing echo chamber may insist that Democratic policies are turning America into a country where everyone just wants free stuff, and yet here are all these people believing that the economy is getting somewhat better and actually practicing capitalism. Despite Obamacare! Despite subsidized birth control! Despite all that cradle-to-grave cosseting in the "Life of Julia" slideshow! (Which, by the way, depicts Julia at age 42 getting a small business loan.)

Don't these new entrepreneurs realize that capitalism is a delicate flower that wilts at the first contact with government spending? Don't they realize that the correct response to Obama policies by heroic capitalists is whining?