Unfortunately, this is often true here in Italy: The main reason, imho, is that rules are often so difficult to follow that selection is working against the more honest entrepreneurs...

Exactly. One of the first people many Italians think of when they hear 'entrepreneur' is Berlusconi, whose 'big idea' wasn't something new or clever or otherwise particularly innovative, but a sneaky way around the state television monopoly. I think it's an example that shows both sides of the coin: the oppressive state, and the "entrepreneur" being not an innovator, but someone good at bending the rules. So yeah, that's probably where that comes from, but it's a vicious circle, because people look down on those who are doing something new and creative as well.

It definitely is a vicious circle. There are for sure many other effects at work, but I'm pretty sure that this is one of the most important ones - and one which is incredibly difficult to break, because moralists and "furbi" (sly ones) both work to keep things as they are :(

Yeah well, and here we're looking at an article claiming "it's illegal to work hard in the EU", which wasn't even wrote by a random drunk and is just as bad.

Also: http://www.garann.com/dev/2012/what-the-fuck-is-an-entrepren...

Well it's so easy to evade taxes when you are self employed as opposed to an employee or a civil servant, that this is often true.

Every time that you get your espresso and you don't get a receipt (which is more often than not), the owner of the café pays no taxes.

It wouldn't be too hard to find someone holding the same views in the US, I should think.