Shock! Palin Trashes Cultural $$$
Sarah Palin says: “NPR, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, all those kind of frivolous things that government shouldn’t be in the business of funding with tax dollars — those should all be on the chopping block as we talk about the $14-trillion debt that we’re going to hand to our kids and our grandkids.” The real shock would be if Palin said anything different. Does she know that the NEA’s budget, a paltry $161 million annually, is less than that of the nation’s military bands? Does she know that the nonprofit arts and culture industry supports 5.7 milion jobs and generates $166.2 billion in economic activity annually? And that strategically placed government funding can have a multiplicative effect on that activity? And that the overwhelming funding of the arts in this country is privately raised and will continue to be so, regardless of base-riling NEA bashing? If Palin is so gung ho to cut the debt, will she consider cutting everything in the budget, including defense? I doubt it. It’s so much easier to go after the chump change attached to the arts.
