Alec Baldwin: Our Economy's 'Humming,' Increase NEA Funding

First off, in the AFP story (re-printed below in full), “30 Rock” is identified as a hit show, which it has never been in its six-year existence.

But what about one-percenter Alec Baldwin describing our economy in this way:

Our economy is still very strong. We have what (Italy) doesn’t have — a great humming, steaming economy[.]

What country does he live in? Obviously, our economy is improving, but at an anemic rate unlike anything we’ve seen since the Great Depression. But when you’re reportedly making $300,000 per episode, there’s little doubt you’re enjoying “a great humming, steaming economy.”

Baldwin isn’t just wildly out of touch, he’s also spinning. Spinning for Obama and spinning to increase funding for one of the last things taxpayers should be subsidizing, the arts.

It gets worse, though. The Huffington Post reports:

“If I had any influence, I’d want the (National Endowment for the Arts) to have a budget of a billion dollars,” Baldwin said. “We spend too much money on war in this country.”

People are hurting all over the country, deficits are at record highs, and rather than suggest that this money go back to overburdened taxpayers or go to pay off the debt or go to a more important cause like AIDS and cancer research, Baldwin presumably wants to cut the military budget so we can throw a billion dollars in welfare to artists and outlets who can’t survive in the free market.

Moreover, if the salary report linked above is accurate, Baldwin is pulling in a cool $6 million a year. If this is so important, why doesn’t he get together with his fellow Hollywood one-percenters and fund the arts?

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AFP:

US actor Alec Baldwin, star of the hit TV show “30 Rock,” paid a visit to Washington to plead for more federal funding for the arts, using Italy as an example of a nation where “art counts.”

Speaking to the National Press Club in the US capital, Academy Award nominee and Emmy winner Baldwin asked for an increase in the federal endowment for the arts, which currently stands at $147 million.

The federal arts budget stood at $175 million in 1992 — an amount that would be even higher today if inflation were taken into account, he said.

Just back from a trip to Rome, Baldwin — who will appear on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to plead his case — said the United States should take a lesson from Italy in terms of support for the arts.