34 Ford

Still here, still going strong.

Every end is a beginning,

Every beginning an end.

Pink Mussaenda “Dona Luz”

I read the article below  today, and it got me to thinking again about capitalism, subsidies, and “The Arts.” When I was a lad, my mom had all these 78 rpm records, many of them of “classical” music. She listened to them, and so did I. Later, when on my own, and with much better stereo equipment (I’m thinking right now about when CDs were brand-new and my first player, a Sony, cost me almost a grand). I was relatively prosperous, and had a bunch of “audiophile” stuff to listen with (Mark Levinson preamp, Bryson amplifiers, Magnaplanar speakers, etc., etc.). I also, in that era (think mid-70s to late 80s), “assigned” myself the task of reading one “good” (“classic?”) book (a Dickens, a Russian novel, whatever), between readings of more contemporary stuff. So, there I am. Listening to “classical” music, and reading “Madame Bovary,” and I started thinking. I was listening to this stuff, and reading this stuff, because I’d convinced myself (with a lot of help for those who advocate this stuff), that it was “good” for me. [Note: I actually like reading Dickens.] Upon mature reflection, meaning these days, I realize I was “subsidizing” this stuff (the orchestras, the publishers, etc.). I was boring myself shitless for some “principle.”

I know I’m not the only one with philosophical questions about subsidizing  ”The Arts” (and other enterprises). I’ve often thought that if the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities were cancelled, it would be perfectly okay. Is “classical” music, for example, so inherently “good for us” that we should pay to keep orchestras going (ballet and opera also, I guess)? Sure, if Mr. Gotrocks wants to plunk down a million to subsidize a philharmonic, that’s his money and his privilege, that’s not what I’m talking about (although I’d like to see the Gotrocks of the world help the poor). Don’t get me wrong, I’m open to the possiblity, even likelihood, that some people really enjoy this stuff, and have no objection to them buying tickets or recordings.

I think what really struck me about the article is that only 30% of the costs of running the Honolulu Symphony came from ticket sales (which have been “OK”). That tells me that they know that their “product” cannot compete in the open market. The “Invisible Hand” of capitalism doesn’t seem interested in their offering.

I don’t think I’ve reached any real conclusions, but I’m really puzzled by subsidies, particlularly when it comes to taxpayer (i.e. borrowed) money.  I don’t listen to “classical” recordings any more, and I don’t flog myself into reading “classic” novels. Music listening and reading are my personal pleasures, when I have time, and I have divested myself of the notion that I owe it to some intellectual theory to listen to anything, or read anything, that I don’t want to. Subsidies distort markets, sez me. As an aside, I don’t hear “conservatives” railing against subsidies (and I’m not even talking about the recent idiotic “bailouts”) for industries like oil, agriculture, etc. They have no more problems than the “liberals” buying votes, and continuing to buy them on the installment plan once purchased.

So, I’m sorry the musicians and others employed by the Honolulu Symphony will go without their paychecks. I have no desire to pay them myself, and apparently, overall, my lack of desire is shared by others.

HONOLULU – The Honolulu Symphony said Friday it’s canceling concerts for the rest of the year and filing for bankruptcy, citing a big drop in donations.

The symphony, the oldest in the nation west of the Rocky Mountains, said it has $1 million in debt and doesn’t have enough money to support operations into November and beyond.

The Honolulu Symphony Society’s board of directors voted to file for Chapter 11 protection at a special meeting on Oct. 30. Papers will be submitted to court next week.

“We made payroll, even in this economy, through October. But when we reached toward the end of October, cash ran out and dried up,” said Peter Shaindlin, the board’s chairman.

Ticket sales have generally been OK, though weak at some recent events. Even so, ticket revenue covers only 30 percent of costs, and donations, which cover the remaining 70 percent, have dropped sharply during the recession.

“These are difficult economic times and everyone is doing whatever it takes to maintain the products and services they provide in our community while being economically prudent,” executive director Majken Mechling said in a statement.

The 109-year-old body hopes to come back as a leaner and more efficient operation, but it’s not clear when concerts will resume. The symphony is aiming for early next year, said spokeswoman Kristin Jackson said.

The symphony spends $4.1 million each year on payroll and benefits. Musician salaries account for the biggest single expense.

Mechling said the symphony can’t continue to sustain a 64-piece orchestra, but she didn’t say how many musicians the organization would have in the future.

The organization’s finances have been in trouble for about two years.

In May 2008, an anonymous donor gave $1 million to cover almost two months of unpaid wages. Earlier this year, the symphony took a $2.1 million advance from its endowment to pay employees several months of back pay.

If any of the voting yesterday was a “referendum” on anything, it was on the vitriol, name-calling, and downright nastiness of the far right “conservatives.” The decided to make their play in a solidly Republican congressional district in New York. They put up some character they liked, and basically pushed the GOP candidate off the stage, rudely enough that she threw her support to the Democrat. They brought in people from all over the country, most of whom knew not a single person in the district, and some of whom could fairly be called “carpetbaggers.” The most prominent of these was Sarah Palin, the failed vice-presidential candidate/failed quitter less-than-one-term governor of Alaska. Well, the former Republican senator Fred Thompson put in his two cents’ worth as well, in his cute slow “Law and Order” drawl.

They managed to cost “their” party a seat in the Congress. This in  a district where the GOP had a 45,000 person lead over the Democrats in registered voters, and where a Republican had been elected to Congress for over 130 years!.

The real problem these anti-democratic folks have is that they basically have no agenda. In their view of things, there are no issues facing our country which require action, and, (gasp) change. Their solution to everything the rest of us perceive as issues is to do nothing at all. The carp, they whine, they grouse, they do childish name-calling, they stir up the unwashed who listen to them. They complain about “big government,” perhaps their biggest lie of all—they love Big Government, as long as it does Big Things they like, like corporate welfare, War(s), tax breaks for mega-corporations, etc.

So, hooray for the voters of New York. Congratulations Mr. Owens.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” —

Declaration of Independence

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” —

United States Constitution

Many thousands of our fellow citizens die every year because they can afford neither to pay for health care directly, nor afford health insuance.

Many hundreds of thousands more of our fellow citizens are bankrupted every year by medical bills, and most of those have health insurance.

There is little else to say.

Purple Rose, Cassadega, Florida.

I forgot to post my Halloween pic. There is a little village not far from us called Cassadega. This is a place full of “spiritualists” of different kinds. I have been told that many seers, mediums, palm readers, etc., etc., from colder climes come to this place for the winter. There is even a “Spiritualist Camp.” I like the signage on this tastefully painted place: “Native American and Metaphysical Stuff;” “Readings and Aura Photos.”

They actually have some sort of shindig in the hamlet on Halloween, but we didn’t go. Maybe next year.

Leu Gardens, Orlando.

We had enough Halloween candy for at least 100 kids. We had 6 actual trick-or-treaters. We always overbuy. As with other years, we’ll take the excess candy to my Honey’s store, and leave it in a bowl for her customers. It never lasts all that long.

I have nothing else to report.

Graffiti/Mural, Orlando.

Leaves.

Actually, I have no idea whether Russia is supplying arms to the Taliban. I have read no news articles suggesting that. I have seen no televised news stories suggesting that. I am privy to no unpublished government studies suggesting that. I am just throwing the rhetorical question out there so I can claim my blog is a journalistic endeavor. I know I’ve ranted about this in the past somewhere, but that isn’t going to stop me from saying: RHETORICAL QUESTIONS ARE NOT NEWS AND OFTEN ARE AN INSIDIOUS FORM OF LYING PROPAGANDA.

I could have said: “Is Glenn Beck a member of the KKK?” Maybe: “Is Iran playing the same game as North Korea to get us to bribe them not to make nuclear arms?”*

Yesterday, I read a “news” story which raised the question as to whether the US use of armed drone planes to attack and kill people is illegal under international law. [I do not address here the legality of our war in Afghanistan under either US or international law.] Okay, I’ll bite. I read the entire article. I read it again. Any guess as to what was missing? Right. There wasn’t any reference or citation at all to any “international law” which might be applicable, and render the drone use “illegal.” The writer either intentionally invented the idea of drone illegality out of the whole cloth, or was too lazy to do a bit of internet research to see if there was any applicable law. Plain old dishonest propaganda.

Of course writers who make liberal use of rhetorical questions would say, “Lying? How could I be lying? I didn’t assert anything to be true, did I? I just asked a question? What’s wrong with that?” Everything is wrong with it.

*Did anyone see that news that the US might start bribing Taliban fighters to stop their actions against the “government” of Afghanistan and/or coalition troops? How stupid is this idea? We aren’t blowing enough money on this useless war already? We should saddle our children and grandchildren, yea unto the nth generation, with more debt? Is this not a sign that there is absolutely no mission to the war? Aside from that, given the history of such bribery (as with North Korea), the problem seems to me to be that bribery is a bottomless pit. People don’t stay bribed! That’s been true throughout history (remember “appeasement” at the outset of WWII?). There’s a reason corporate “lobbyists” have to keep pumping money into the coffers of their pet senators and congressmen.

What’s going to keep those fighters from pooling their bribe money and buying even more deadly arms to use against our soldiers, from Russia maybe? [My humble effort at a baseless rhetorical question.]