One clear myth that both parties have been embracing is that small
businesses are the engines of economic growth.
They say that most
new jobs are created by small businesses.
In fact, most new jobs are created by small businesses.
The problem
is that most job losses are caused by small businesses too!
Small
businesses are constantly going out of business.
Most small businesses fail within a year or two of starting.
So at the same time that a bunch of small businesses are starting, a bunch of
other small businesses are closing.
Somewhere on the web (that I couldn't find again) someone points
out that if small businesses were really creating a net increase in
employment,
then the percentage of people working for small businesses
would increase over time.
But that isn't happening: the percentage of people working for
small companies is stable over time.
There are lots of good articles on the web with more details, including this, this, and this.