> For that matter, a significant (most?) percentage of the US used to be self-employed instead of wage slaves.
Are you sure that's not just due to people moving away from agriculture? A family farm is a thing, but not really a family factory.
Are you sure that's not just due to people moving away from agriculture? A family farm is a thing, but not really a family factory.
When I was a kid the only businesses I can remember being non-locally owned were a Safeway and branches of two state-wide banks. This is in a town of 20k or so (at the time). There were small local manufacturing firms, 100% of restaurants were local (no chains), nearly all grocery stores were family owned, you could still make a living as a rancher.
Obviously there were franchises (gas stations, a small Sears store mostly for catalog ordering) but not very many.
The difference from modern times is remarkable.