Pay the artists

A good argument for federal spending on the arts by Felix Salmon in The Atlantic. Here's the gist: since artists are generally wildly underpaid, grant money is spent both "quickly and carefully", thus sending the cash back into the economy fast fast fast.

And then, of course, there's the longer-term benefits of the art that's produced. Here's a favorite product from the New Deal, Thomas Hart Benton's enthusiastic mural, "The Social History of Missouri," in the state capitol building. (Click on the image for a video tour.)