They have a direct connection. The government is currently propping up billions, maybe trillions, of bad debt. That's what this financial crisis is all about - it's not part of the normal business cycle.
If not for TARP (and the other alphabet soup programs) and the Fed Reserve currency intervention, much of that debt would have defaulted, resulting in a deflationary depression.
A portion of many startups' customers would have found themselves cash limited, and/or unable to borrow more in corporate paper markets, etc. They would have gone into survival mode or outright failed as their own revenue streams dried up. Same with the VC money.
Whether the stimulus trickled down to the startup economy I don't know, but it's the bailout of the financial system and money printing that is keeping massive amounts of cash flows from drying up.
If not for TARP (and the other alphabet soup programs) and the Fed Reserve currency intervention, much of that debt would have defaulted, resulting in a deflationary depression.
A portion of many startups' customers would have found themselves cash limited, and/or unable to borrow more in corporate paper markets, etc. They would have gone into survival mode or outright failed as their own revenue streams dried up. Same with the VC money.
Whether the stimulus trickled down to the startup economy I don't know, but it's the bailout of the financial system and money printing that is keeping massive amounts of cash flows from drying up.