People in government say, fairly frequently, that America loves its entrepreneurs. If you turn off the rhetoric for a few minutes and look at the actual environment in which we dreamers are expect to operate, however, the actions of those policy makers tells a different story. There are any number of ways in which our government punishes those of its citizens who choose self-employment over traditional employment, not least of which is their exclusion from our entire national system of social safety nets. A prime example of this sort of poor-stepchild stuff has been playing itself out during the current recession. The federal government has been exerting itself to provide for (and pay for) perpetual unemployment benefits for those who have been laid off during this recession but no such support is available to nonemployer business owners. If they cannot find work, they are simply out of luck.

The Freelancer’s Union been complaining about this state of affairs for a long time. Last week, they released the rather startling results of a survey that offers a very good illustration of the point. For example, this survey showed that 81% of independent worker were either jobless or underemployed in 2009. Traditional employees don’t have to worry about not getting paid, another statutory luxury denied to independents; 40% of respondents experienced at least one episode of non-payment during the last year. Pursuit of payment cost independent workers a cumulative 17,000 hours and more than $3 million in 2009. So, what to do about all this? The Freelancer’s Union suggests expanding various protections to the independent workforce, using a system of tax-advantaged savings accounts instead of unemployment insurance for them, and doing some research to better understand them and their contribution to the economy.