At a time when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, I question how Congress is spending our tax dollars.
On Thursday, Breitbart reported the following:
Non-profit theater companies across the country would receive a $5 billion taxpayer-funded bailout under a new plan being promoted by a group of Democrats in the Senate. The proposed bailout comes as prominent stages are facing unprecedented financial crises following their embrace of woke identity politics, which has alienated audiences and donors.
Among the companies poised to receive the new federal dollars would be New York’s Public Theater, which staged the gruesome stabbing death of President Donald Trump in its infamous 2017 production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) is leading the way with the legislation, which is called the Supporting Theater and the Arts to Galvanize the Economy (STAGE) Act of 2024.
What about Americans who are facing ‘unprecedented financial crises’?
The article concludes:
The wave of unprecedented financial crises hitting prominent theaters comes as their far-left agendas continue to drive away loyal audiences and even some donors. Combined with Bidenflation that has caused their operating costs to soar, companies are facing catastrophic budgetary shortfalls and are resorting to layoffs and shutdowns.
Institutions hit hard by the perfect storm include The Public Theater in New York, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Lookingglass Theater in Chicago, The Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
I realize that theatre is an important part of culture, but movies and theatre need to consider what their audiences want to watch. What we are seeing here is the free market at work, and as usual Congress is attempting to interfere with free market forces.