Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Our business


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Posted by Rick Denney on May 06, 2003 at 13:21:21:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Our business posted by Bill on May 06, 2003 at 12:57:19:

Who do you think puts up the money to make new companies that, in turn, create new jobs?

Those folks living from paycheck to paycheck do the work of society, but they wouldn't have any work to do if it weren't for the rich folks down the street who bought the stock of their company, or who put up the money needed to make payroll until it got going. If you take money away from those rich folks, they'll have less with which to buy stock and make investments, resulting in fewer paychecks for people to spend. Who will make those investments? Government? That is been tried, and it has failed in every case.

The other problem is that when government takes the money from rich folks to give to poor folks, the result is inevitably more poor folks, not fewer. Why? It's because the money stops at Washington for a heavy night out on the town.

A healthy economy needs plenty of rich folks to continue to prosper. It also needs the possibility that any of us can be one of those rich folks if we are willing to do what it takes. We aren't quite all the way to that second ideal, but we are closer now than ever in history, and closer than anyone else.

Musicians who want to be paid for their music have a tough time if they choose musical content that isn't popular. I feel sorry for them, truly. Many are my friends, and I worry about their future. I understand and admire the great achievements they have made, and wish I could achieve even a fraction of it. But any model I see that depends on massive, continued government subsidy without the support of the people just seems to me doomed. Whether the people choose to offer their support through taxes or through individual donations is not important to me, though I think the latter is more efficient and fair. But when a few "protectors of culture" at the government level make those decisions without general support of the people, then it seems to me they are behaving rather patronizingly.

So, the strategy for gaining support for orchestras is to first build support for orchestral music. That's a big job that I'm not sure American culture is willing to undertake. Government can't do it.

Rick "thinking millionaires aren't as rich as they used to be" Denney


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