The number of new businesses creating jobs in America continues to fall as health care costs, America’s aging population, and increased regulations have made entrepreneurs more risk-averse.

According to data compiled by the Wall Street Journal, venture capital invested in U.S. businesses dropped almost 10% last year. In 1982, upstart companies accounted for nearly half of all U.S. businesses. In 2011, just over a third of the nation’s companies were new businesses.

“Right now we are taxing capital, educating kids, regulating banks, and managing cities in ways that are crippling America’s greatest economic asset,” says American Enterprise Institute scholar James Pethokoukis.

The economic impact of America’s entrepreneurial instinct has taken a heavy toll on job creation.

Innovation has also taken a hit.

As Pethokoukis explains, “Big business must be subject to maximum competitive intensity” in order for innovation to thrive.