To put another spin on this one:
Samuelson would say that Ray Harrell is suffering from the lump-of-opera
illusion -- that is the fallacy that there is only a fixed amount of opera
and that by spreading the parts around more artists could be employed.
History clearly shows that this is a fallacy. New operas are being written
and performed every day and the recording industry has created thousands of
new jobs (some of them very well payed!) for every live performing artist
job that has been eliminated. The artists who are thrown out of work by
technological advancement may have to relocate and accept a lower rate of
pay. But with their vocal training they would be readily absorbed into the
expanding field of telemarketing. With the incomes that they receive from
work in a call centre, these former artists would be able to buy CDs and
opera tickets, thus expanding the aggregate demand for opera and perhaps
even enabling some of them to resume their artistic careers.
Tom Walker
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
