[rollei_list] Re: OT Artistic Voices (was Re: OT Mapplethorpe)
- From: Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:47:10 -0500
Elias -
It would be a small fraction of a penny. Here are some numbers:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/01/AR2010020103598.html
The Federal '09 budget was about $3.5 trillion, of which 12% accounted
for all discretionary spending
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2007.png
I agree with you... the arts are completely under-appreciated,
under-valued and under-funded here in the States.
Eric Goldstein
--
On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 6:34 PM, Elias Roustom <elroustom@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> If patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, what is sarcasm?
>
> Frank, all your "arts" fall into various categories of industry, which
> are heavily subsidized by tax payers - one way or another - or are
> healthy industries that contribute little or nothing to the public
> good, and survive just fine on their own, or get subsidized any way.
> The arts, especially those of a public nature, strive to promote
> virtue, not further vice.
>
> What this discussion has done for me is show me how much public
> contempt there is for art in America. Further reading on the web bares
> this out. One would think this contempt for public funding of art had
> some reasonable basis to it, but any examination of that matter turns
> up nothing but mystery. If all existing NEA funding disappeared
> tomorrow, it would reduce your tax bills by how much? I wonder if
> anyone could run the math. I'd be surprised if it added up to a penny,
> but how happy it would make some people would be priceless.
>
> I know of a publicly (and privately) funded after school program in
> Providence RI that teaches public school children to play classical
> music. How terrible a waste of taxpayer money. What a swindle!
>
> Thank you all (sincerely) for the eye opening discussion.
>
> Elias
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 9:46 AM, Frank Deutschmann
> <frank.deutschmann@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 6:42 PM, Elias_Roustom <elroustom@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>> The same goes for everything else that makes this country of ours special.
>>> Funding for the arts may seem like a waste to you, but when you see how it
>>> enlivens the lives of millions (children, veterans, hippies) you know how
>>> important it is. Our culture is what's worth defending - if not that then
>>> what? Our constitution and bill of rights were born of what goes into art
>>> making - deep abstract thought, and free expression. It is for the spiritual
>>> health of the nation that a little sliver of public funds goes into art.
>>> It's not a swindle.
>>
>>
>> Hear, hear - funding for the arts IS important, it IS important to safeguard
>> and encourage the arts! It is a pitty that we do so little of this, though:
>> - The sad and declining state of true American food would benefit so much
>> from an infusion of public money; it's so prohibitive to have to drop $100+
>> to have a breakfast meeting at Fraunces Tavern. Bringing this down to $10
>> per head would go far to present a better image of America: tourists would
>> be more inclined to American food, and would we really have a credit crisis
>> if all those bankers had had more exposure to breakfast in a
>> revolutionary-period setting? Public funding for Fraunces Tavern would be
>> net defecit reducing spend!
>> - And what about Smith & Wollensky, and all the other great steakhouses?
>> Again, same thing, only more; replace the swill served at soup kitchens with
>> true American culture!
>> - And certainly BBQ, a real American cuisine if there ever was one, deserves
>> a special carve out of protection!
>> - And then there is the particularly sad case of Bud. Bud, facing so much
>> increasing competition from those so-called craft brews: we need beer
>> subsidies to maintain this unique American brew! And while we're at it,
>> bring back Schafer - the one beer to have when you're having more than one;
>> clearly lack of subsidy forced Schafer under, time to resurrect the Schafer
>> culture.
>> - And can you really enjoy a Schafer in a $50 seat at a ball game? Or,
>> heaven forbid, in a $500 suite? Of course not! Bleacher seats at $5 for
>> the masses! Public subsidy could get this all done, and the value to the
>> deficit would be immesurable: families out to ball games again, mom bringing
>> a picnic basket, junior keeping alive the great American cultural tradition
>> of cursing the umps, while dad tosses back more than a few....
>> - And no funding for culture could be complete without keeping alive the
>> great American tradition of the big-iron pushrod V8 in a super size four
>> door! Those lightweight foreign cars, so absurd that they are ruining the
>> Big Three. Subsidies could fix this in the name of Art and Culture!
>>
>> Yes! More funding for the Arts, all the Arts! And as this is America, make
>> sure we fund all Art equally!
>>
>> -f
>>
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