This is pretty disingenuous. Brooks tries to jump on the new fascination with small businesses but only does it in order to carry the same water for the same old people (who are, to use his own terminology, the princes). Most of the new regulation he argues against will not affect start-ups and small businesses but will mostly affect the large banks.

In reality what hurts the grinds most presently is that the middle class is beaten down and ordinary people do not have much income. Small businesses usually do not have access to the enterprise markets and usually have to rely on ordinary people to be their consumers. And ordinary people are poor and are cutting all discretionary spending. This is what hurts most of all.