Disclaimer: I know that huge corporations are bad on a societal scale. But from what I've seen on this sub, small businesses are destructive on a personal scale.
I used to love the idea of small businesses and supporting small business owners. I viewed them as entrepreneurs who did something I'm not brave enough to do. I viewed them as enriching their communities.
I'm working at a large corporation for the first time in my life after working at nothing but small businesses and startups. I used to think that I'd hate working at a big corporation, but so far it's been amazing. Even though I'm a nameless drone in the office, I feel like I'm cared about. My company offers health insurance, life insurance, PTO, sick leave, grievance leave, and 401K matching. The bosses are pretty hands-off, and as long as I get my work done I can come and go as I please. Not to mention the pay is WAY better than what I'd make at a small business! I've been taken care of more in the past 2 months at my current job than I have in 2 years of working at a small business (Even though we were “family” there).
I've said it before that small businesses are small and stay small because the owners think small. Most small business owners actually have no business sense; They either got the bright idea to open the fifth frozen yogurt shop in their town just because they like frozen yogurt, or they know their trade but are unemployable because they're assholes who nobody wants to work with.
I'm always amazed at the short-sightedness of small business owners. You see posts on here about how owners of companies are micro-managing employees' actions or giving them grief for being 5 minutes late. If they're spending this much brain power concerned with the minutiae of their business then what big picture items are they completely ignoring?
Many small business owners also try and plead poverty whenever possible. They can't give you a raise because the business isn't making enough (Which is usually made out to be the employees' fault). They can't buy a new piece of equipment that will make everyone's lives easier because it's too much money to spend at once (Even though it would save more money in the long run because you wouldn't have to worry about breakdowns and repair costs). But then the owner drives a $250k car and has a giant house and is always taking vacations. Small business owners like this don't own businesses to provide a service, they do so as a means to an end to fund a lifestyle, usually skimming off potential payroll funds by paying as close to minimum wage as possible (Or paying late).
These types of businesses also never think in the long-term, everything is minute by minute. Hit a rough patch for a few weeks? Who cares if business might pick up indefinitely in 6 months, make sure to just fire everyone you can! After all, payroll is a huge part of overhead! Got an employee who is a star and keeps customers and clients coming back but makes $2/hour more than the others? Get rid of them and hire someone at the standard wage to save yourself a cool $80/week! Hell, just don't replace them if you really want to save money and have your lesser employees be even more overwhelmed!
I'm pretty sure large businesses weren't all “NoBoDy WaNtS tO wOrK aNyMoRe” when they were expanding and doing well. Small businesses that do poorly are doing poorly for a reason, usually leading back to poor decisions from the owner. It bummed me out when I saw small businesses closing during the pandemic….But now I realize this was just natural selection for “entrepreneurs” who had a service that no one wanted or needed.
tl;dr: Anyone can start a business, but it takes big-minded people who care to actually succeed.