helps us move our attention back indoors to the painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers and others that create "the art scene." Unlike most urban arts festivals, Portland pays its artists, musicians and performers. In fact, Artquake is the largest employer of the arts in all disciplines in the state. Artquake producer Karen Whitman argues, "People who elect to be artists shouldn't have to leave the community to be successful." As a growing audience, excited by events like Artquake, demands and supports more art and music, more theater, more of all of the richness that these offer, Portland's reputation for livability will include ovations for its resident artists. —Carlotta Collette Economics/Work Our economic base is as much a key to our life support system as our land and resources; they are virtually inseparable. Yet essential as it is to our existence, few of us seem able to elucidate the role of economics as clearly as Bob Baugh. Bob was recently elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Oregon State AFL-CIO, after serving as a researcher for the International Woodworkers of America. He is also a member of the American Federation of Teachers. In the following conversation we asked Bob to clarify some connections for us. RAIN: Being newly elected to the Oregon AFL-CIO, what challenges do you see for labor in the next few years? Baugh: The economy in general. In the Pacific Northwest, what do people do for work? In Oregon, nearly 40 percent of the manufacturing jobs are in the wood products industry. Right now we can see that anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 or more of these people are out of work, and a lot of this is going to be permanent. We've got a lot of permanent plant closures. What will these people do? Real unemployment in this state—any economist or labor researcher will tell you—we're probably looking at 15-20 percent actual unemployment in Oregon. RAIN: Where do you see the role of government, in terms of the marketplace ? Baugh: The government plays a tremendous role in the economy of the country and the state in how we spend our dollars, the choices we're making today. Do you build mass transportation or do you build MX missiles? That raises all kinds of questions—how many jobs does that produce? We know transportation produces many, many more jobs. And the benefit that comes back to society—money spent on a missile system that nobody in society ever uses (and if we ever use it, we're never going to use anything again!) or building a mass transportation system that generates income, which people will use, which moves goods to market, and so on? That's the role that government plays in the marketplace, and it plays that role in a much more rational fashion everywhere else in the world, as far as I can see, whether you are talking about rightist dictatorships, leftist dictatorships, socialist or capitalist countries. We probably have less control than anyone. We're involved in it but we're not involved in it. We turn over the money, but the decision-making power lies elsewhere, in the private sector, without government and com-
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