Maybe Things Aren't as Hopeless as They Seem

Instapundit has a post featuring a tweet by Sen. Ted Cruz:

TED CRUZ EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE: “Reaganomics: You start a business in your parents’ garage. Obamanomics: You move into your parents’ garage.”

Clever. And I understand (I think) what Cruz is trying to say -- he's contrasting a period that welcomed and encouraged and celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit with ... uh, today.

But I don't think he is factually correct, if he is trying (as I think he is) to point to the era of garage start-ups that launched the technology boom. Apple and Microsoft were both founded during the Ford administration. The software that made personal computers useful tools rather than toys (spreadsheets: Visicalc; word processors: WordStar and WordPerfect) were created during the Carter years.

These products flowered during the Reagan administration, but they started during a time when the White House was occupied by two of its biggest clowns ever (we all remember 'malaise', but we shouldn't forget WIN buttons either).

And I find that very encouraging. If entrepreneurs can keep producing great new ideas through an era of such economic ignorami, then perhaps there are some great tinkerers out there today, coming up with things that will come to fruition when the country frees itself from Obamanomics.