Here is Nancy Pelosi a few months ago telling a group of musicians and artists that because of ObamaCare they can now leech off of the rest of us saps who have to work for a living:
We see it as an entrepreneurial bill, a bill that says to someone, if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care.
I’m thinking a lot of doctors will want to escape the grind and become entrepreneurs themselves. Why wouldn’t they? They will be paid pennies compared to the amount spent in school, and now will be told the what, why, where, when, and how by the federal government.
What a wonderful world they envision eh? Our artist class will now have the time to “create” while the rest of us pick up the tab.
If liberal Boomers such as Nancy Pelosi insist on creating government incentives for a generation of people to be unemployed artists who nonetheless have their health care paid for by productive members of society, there will be fewer productive members of society.
If they insist on creating a generation unable to care for itself up to and past the ripe old age of 26 by incentivizing “children”—and I use to term loosely— to stay on parent’s health insurance policies until they’re turning the corner from Clearasil to Botox, there will be fewer educated, able-bodied people who ever learn to take care of themselves.
If they insist on creating a generation incentivized to “move out of the money-making industry” entirely and “into the helping industry,” as Michelle Obama put it, with student loans forgiven by government if and only if students stay away from icky, profit-making industries, there will be fewer people making a profit.
These are the workers—and I may soon be using that term loosely— upon whom liberal Boomer Pelosi must rely to pay her Social Security through their working years. The ratio of workers to retirees has already shrunk from 41:1 in 1942 to 3.3:1 in the mid-2000s, and is expected to dip into to 2:1 in the next decades. Does Pelosi really want one or more of those young people supporting each worker to be a really keen charcoal sketch artist whose earning potential went as thoroughly unrecognized as his genius?
When imagining Pelosi’s economy, liberal Boomers should also imagine what comes with it. The mediocre melodies of their street-bard children will be cold comfort indeed when they’re warming their hands over hobo fires in Haight-Ashbury.
“Sorry, Pops! No more money! I’m a barrista-cum-unemployed-sculptor-with-benefits!”
I call all of this a larger welfare state….period.
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I remember when she said this. It’s like Nancy played the stupid card vs. the race card!! Quick question Nancy, who pays??
I hear ya, Nancy, and I’m with ya! This is gonna enable me to go “John Galt” in 2014. It’ll take at least 100 moronic obamatrons to replace the taxes I pay. Be careful what you wish for, ye progressives…
The soon to be flying coach, buying her own booze, former Speaker of the House and Minority Party Member of the House opens her mouth and places both feet into her “lie hole” again.
November is coming like a huge dark cloud on the horizon for over tenured, self serving fools like her. As their ranks are reduced in the House and the bullet proof majority becomes history a lot of these self styled petty elite will find themselves under attack by the folks that have had enough of unsustainable Huge Government, unsustainable Huge Spending and the shameless lie of the Jobless Recovery that exists only on paper but not on Main Street.
Her House of Cards is about to fall. MEDICARE, Social Security and the Economy are circling the bowl while she and others make promises that cannot ever be kept. The era of Fiscal promiscuity and irresponsible spending is at it’s limits. Their moment of celebration will be cut short by insolvent Programs that were never necessary or funded by their Pay Go notion that they themselves ignored. Fannie & Freddie are already tanked due to a complete lack of Congressional oversight.
Keep talking Nancy but prepare for a smaller office space and a few new faces on the other side of the aisle. The folks that will not vote to fund any more of your frivolous ventures and make the hard decisions to restore the Republic.
Consequences. That’s what she ignores. Consequences of give-away programs. Time for Nancy to retire.
Funny, I’m one of those artistic types now and it still seems like I have to work all day, every day. Where did I miss out?
Disclosure: I have Medicare! I am on the Govt. dole! So far the Gov. has gotten as much or more in premiums than they’ve doled out. Nancy? Nancy? Hellooo Nancy, health insurance doesn’t buy the groceries yet, or is it in an undiscovered part of the bill.
Hey, the “artist class” works for a living. Some member of the “artist class” had a hand in the creation and marketing of almost every product you use.
@Greg…and every other class picks up the tab for it all.
Question: What happens when the economic illiterate class in Congress runs out of other peoples wealth to redistribute?
Answer: no more free ice cream!
Yes, Greg, and in my alter ego as a learning psychologist I’m very ashamed at this use of psychology, because this (marketing) is one of the major practical applications of psychology. It’s no different from propaganda of any sort, and unfair to know what words and illusions will ring people’s buttons unless they know equally well what is going on and can resist. Think kool-ade.
There has to be a terminal disease out there looking for Pelosi.
Will someone please smack this b*tch and knock some sense in her vacant head? She loves giving away other people’s money. Does she think life is a game show with a never ending flow of money?
Madalyn
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told musicians and creative types this week that thanks to the new healthcare law, they can quit their jobs and focus on developing their talents, because the taxpayers will fund their healthcare.”
Uh, no, that’s not what she said, Mr. Ballasy. Not even in your out of context, 22 second spin clip centerpiece. That’s what you said she said.
What Nancy Pelosi said was this:
“We see it as an entrepreneurial bill, a bill that says to someone, if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care. You don’t have to be job-locked.”
Health insurance concerns will no longer lock a person with entrepreneurial aspirations into their current job.
But Greg, she did still say, “you can leave your work, focus on your talent…” How is this logically different from “quit your jobs and focus on developing your talents…” Both make the statement A is possible because of B: A=quit your job B=the government will provide healthcare. A is a lie because B requires that you pay which generally requires a job. You can’t whitewash the idea by phrasing it a little differently, it still parses the same way and has the same real-life problems.
There is a difference between having a true career and a hobby. An artist, working full time to perfect his/her own craft is very different from someone doing it part-time.
An artist with talent, can make a living. An artist throwing paint at a canvas, won’t. Unfortunately, to listen to Nancy, the talented career-artist is the same a the hobbyist.
Anyone working for a creative ad agency, in films, etc. has coverage. They work for a business.
An “artist” as a small-business owner should get the same benefits as any other small business owner.
Nancy’s opened a can of worms with this promise. How do you define artist?
Already the costs of these programs is impacting everyone. For example, who pays for the 26 year-old children soon able to be covered under their parent’s health insurance? My kids, now 26 and 30 paid for their own. It’s not that expensive, unless you want the gold-plated plan.
Patter: But Greg, she did still say, “you can leave your work, focus on your talent…” How is this logically different from “quit your jobs and focus on developing your talents…”
Isn’t leaving the job behind at some point to focus all of your talent, time, and energy on your own goal typical of most successful entrepreneurial endeavors?
Musicians were mentioned because musicians happened to be prominent among the group Pelosi was speaking to at the moment, but the statement would apply equally to anyone aspiring to turn an idea or talent and an ambition into a going business or livelihood.
I think Ballasy is making use of the philistine perception that “musicians and creative types” are people who don’t work for a living–not only untrue, but insulting–to frame Pelosi’s words and create an entirely false impression about what was actually said.
Perhaps this is a small example of that manipulative psychological button-punching that you mentioned? That’s my own take on it, anyway, but it might just be that I have a different set of buttons. I’m one of those “creative types” Ballasy apparently finds so useless. I might think the same about him. Good journalistic reporting is supposed to be about clarity, not deliberate misrepresentation calculated to sell your own point of view.
My artistic endeavor is (mostly) writing fiction, which takes focus and effort like any job. I research my fantasy to make sure it can be plausible. My carpal tunnel syndrome is as real as any secretary’s. My associates who are doing most of the 2- & 3-D art are also doing it as work. focusing on a topic of someone else’s choosing and preparing it–it’s as much “work” as putting out a newspaper. We have deadlines that must be met, or no more money. Game developers are usually paid a fixed amount for the total product and no benefits. NO benefits. Pelosi must think artists are a bunch of impractical bums who can’t coordinate being inspired with staying on their feet (or in the computer case, their butts) and producing something beautiful, but all the professional artists I know are very versatile, due to poverty and the fact that art takes a lot of practical material knowledge. Having health insurance is usually the last worry.
The psychological button pushing to which I referred was in regard to marketing. Hordes of psychologists and their minions are out there, surveying what colors and shapes make people pick up one box over another at the store. Other writers are finding words that promise the moon without being legally actionable. The election of Ozero was a mammoth packaging and sales venture. Sadly, it’s too true that people have unconscious hot buttons and shameless manipulators make use of them to sell products, whether it’s eggs or socialism.
A failed artist does not need to be compensated by having the Government take from those who are successful, including great musicans and artists who do make a living. A person who refuses to learn from their personal failures should not be carried by any society, nor should they be tollerated as a parasite to our tax payer dollars.
Welfare States are seeing crumbling infrastructure in terms of waterlines, sewage systems, roads, and bridges while States that shun or minimize Welfare are breaking even or pulling ahead of their counterparts that pander to the parasites…
Once water systems along with roadways are irrepairable due to Local and State misspendings on Unionized Government employee benefits, pensions of incumbents, and welfare payments to non-contributing members of society we will see riots in the US streets due to food and water shortages. “Artists” that Pelosi supports are the least of our concerns to feed, clothe, and provide cheap healthcare to.
As a former University student who was asked to become an art major; but took a look around at the talent and thought, “these guys are really good, will they make a living?” I decided there were more practical avenues. I did start a cartooning business in the 80’s before the great advances in computers and decided it was a book keeping nightmare. It also appeared to have an artist at Reader’s Digest steal a cartoon and publish it under is own name. (It happens all the time.)
I managed to do the art work and could have eventually made a living with my art; however, like most small businesses that start up I maintained a business to support my passion. The business of art is a business like any other, you are successful or you fail, what is the difference? Only about one out of four businesses that start up make a go of it, I am sure artists have a much higher failure rate. With musicians, most of them play for money now and then, is it necessary to subsidize their health care if they make more than the average worker? What about the successful artist, is his health care automatically paid for?
Could it be that maintaining the artistic demographic votes for the Democrats is paramount to implementing a fair system; there is also the added benefit of having a sympathetic group of artists (some of whom have an ability to really hurt politicians) as a source of propaganda and neutralized as a source of negative propaganda.
Nancy could be very dangerous if she weren’t so damn obvious with her stupidity.
Artists seem to be ready to trade their Freedom for a meal ticket and the benevolent direction of Obama and Company.
Remember all, this from a woman who married money and has never had to really work her entitire life.
Aleric, further proof that rich men aren’t necessarily all that bright.
“Artists seem to be ready to trade their Freedom for a meal ticket and the benevolent direction of Obama and Company.”
Not me. I lampoon political convention and jerk “leaders” as much as I dare for a M rated production. 🙂 Not all art is following the NEA agenda, but unfortunately they are the ones getting paid.
I would say that the “beauty business,” as my sister-in-law the musician puts it, is like the restaurant business. Takes lots of time, love, talent, luck, and has a high failure rate. Artists are used to being called crazy though.
“Artists seem to be ready to trade their Freedom for a meal ticket and the benevolent direction of Obama and Company.”
Why is there so much hostility towards artists, musicians, and “creative types”? Why the assumption that they’re freeloading deadbeats?
“The median art design salary is $72,000 for an art director, $98,000 for a creative director, $45,000 for a designer, $62,000 for a senior designer, $60,000 for a freelance designer, and $55,000 for a web designer. An entry-level designer will only earn around $35,000, but there is great room for advancement.”
http://ezinearticles.com/?Art-Design-Salary-Range&id=4093818
Consider musicians:
http://www.musicianwages.com/musician-profile/average-income-of-a-musician/
In my experience–as a generalization, of course–“creative types” are some of the people least willing to trade away their freedom. Non-conformity, as an expression of their attitude about individual freedom, often seems to be a tempermental predisposition. Maybe that’s the real source of the resentment.
Greg, I don’t think you “get it” as to the “artists” Pelosi was addressing. After 17 years in both the film/TV and music business, both creative arts, I pretty much know the crowd she was talking to. And it wasn’t those who were already exercising their creative talents in jobs utilizing their skills, such as you exhibit with your links. As a former sound editor for film and TV, I was part of the technical creative sound arts for a couple of decades, and had to beat my way up the ladder… just like everyone else.
For example an art or creative director, and designers, are not apt to “leave” their jobs – save to begin their own business. I’d say that the O’bama tax structures and O’healthcare is pretty much non-friendly to that avenue.
But the point is, they are already using their art in their jobs. They have no need to quit to pursue their art, since they are already using it in their gigs every day.
And the musician page you sent me to? Gawd, almost fell off my chair laughing. Even as the Nat’l Endowment of the Arts study linked there notes, about 44% of all musicians are freelance. And a vast majority of all musicians don’t fall into categories the Arts Endowment would recognize. They focus on those that are part of TV/studio/theatre instrumental or band members, symphony members, music composers, teachers, etc.
Now that you know what musicians Pelosi was *not* talking to… which a bit of either common sense INRE their income, or perhaps some real life exposure to the struggling artist world may have added some credibility to your comment… I’ll tell you who she *was* talking to. They are the locals who aspire to be in hit bands, playing in your local bars while holding down a regular job. They are paid nominal fees, or perhaps part of a door cut. Occasionally includes a free drink of two.
Both part time musicians and actors – as well as perhaps aspiring novelists or painters – are holding down jobs as waiters/waitresses or whatever. In between making a living, actors are hitting every cattle call, painters every sidewalk sale venue, writers kicking out screenplays, articles or novels to publishers or WGA, and bands hunting for ever higher paying/higher exposure gigs at every opportunity. Most of them pick throwaway jobs because if a gig happens, they can’t keep their regular job. So they do a bit part, then go hunt for another waiter job when it’s done.
*Those* are the “artists” Pelosi was encouraging to collect taxpayer welfare and pursue their goals. As one who’s been in relationships with many of those over my years, I can attest that they never need much encouragement to play the starving artist routine, and live off the convenient females in their lives.
Me? I chose jobs that opened opportunity for me… especially since when I started, it was a male dominated business. If an artist is serious about painting, what about a job with a curator in a museum? A musician can work at a music store, and get the perk of discounts on equipment. Designers can work for architectural firms… or if home design, they can get ground level work in places like Home Depot, which offers design services as well as products.
And that’s the way it’s done… making wise business/employment decisions that get you in the ground floor, and not sitting around on the taxpayers dime and waiting for your big break.
And oh, BTW, I didn’t sense hostility against artists. I join with others in being hostile to free loaders who prefer to walk to their mailbox for a handout check instead of contributing, or working their way up the ladder of experience.