I found this article which says 66% of businesses fail within 4 years according to the Small Business Administration: <a href="http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm</a><p>That was written in 2006 when we were in a boom (unjustified as it might have been). I'd imagine those numbers are much higher now.<p>So basically Friedman is advocating new graduates go into a field where they have around a 3 in 4 chance of failing. Given there are only 1 or 2 unemployed people for every 10 in the broad market I'd say that's bad advice.
This sounds like one of the stronger arguments against getting a degree instead of going straight into a startup:<p>"<i>A person with big debts that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy is not a person who should be taking risks.</i>"