[p2p-research] cutting cultural budgets

[Michel Bauwens]

from john thackara:
http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/03/culture_cuts.php


I found a chart in Aviation
Week<http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a9be69494-f142-4438-857c-7fb4e3fb4af8&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest>,
which is almost a trade magazine of the military industrial complex, that
included these numbers for per capita military spending:
U.S.: $545.3 billion, that's roughly $45,500 per head of the population.
U.K.: $63.2 billion, or $34,800 per head.
France: $60.3 billion, or $32,100 per head.
Germany: $41.8 billion, or $33,800 per head.

Then I found a study<http://www.oclc.org/reports/escan/economic/educationlibraryspending.htm>that
concludes that the United States spent $1,780 per head on education in
2001 (France, The Netherlands and Canada each spent more than $1,200 per
capita). Hmmm.

Turning to culture and the arts, the best I could find is a perplexing web
database <http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/belgium.php?aid=62> that
appears to show that cultural expenditure per capita in Spain is euro 135,
compared to Germany which, in 2007, spent 99 euros per capita.

In round numbers, then, Germany appears to spend 25,000 euros per person on
defence, versus about 100 euros per head on culture. I have to assume that
the gap in the US and UK, were the numbers to be available, would be a good
deal wider.

As I said: insane numbers.

I distract you (and myself) with these numbers mainly because, in the years
ahead, spending on the things that we do care about - education, culture,
sustainability - looks certain to plummet.

In the UK, for example, commentators are talking gravely about public
spending cuts of 10, 15, or 20 percent. Insiders tell me that cuts will be
40 percent or more, in real terms, over the coming few years.
Large cultural and educational institutions will suck in what little public
funding is available. Government funding for small, grassroots activities
will dry up almost completely.


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