I think our country as a whole is becoming more and more under the influence of corporate mentality. Small business is a nuisance for government to keep track of and are mosquitoes draining profit to big corporations. I was told by a worker at the California state board of equalization once that "you really shouldn't do business the way you do" (i.e. selling art work directly) because it was "so hard" for workers in the government to "figure out what you're doing" and "you could lie and pull any figure out of the air," as far as income goes. Paycheck stubs or chain gallery receipts would apparently be acceptable- something "where someone issues you a w-9."
I got into a debate with a Utah businessman a few days ago (granted, Utahns come to the modern economy armed with a stone axe to the proverbial gunfight) who stated that the total corporate- ization of America is a great thing- that the cream will rise to the top on stock and dividends, that the workers will learn to work hard and that "all those socialist blue state salaries and their failed experiment in anti-capitalism will go away". He extolled the moving of "all high tech" to China and India and stated that American workers needed to learn to compete with workers in Mexico and China in order to flourish- that if someone will do your $15 an hour job (high pay in Utah, btw- we're a 'right to work state' and lead the nation in bankruptcies) for $4 an hour the Americans will have to learn to do the same job for $4 an hour if they want to compete. I asked him how Americans were supposed to flourish. The answer of course was to climb the corporate ladder and invest...and if you work really hard you could reach the ultimate capitalist goal of buying a franchise.