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but the quote implies that the arts are not critical to the economy and political philosophy and are employed mostly during good times.
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Of course it does - it is the truth.
How many people do you think care much about the arts when their main concern is to feed their family or to avoid the next attack on their home?
I would bet that the arts is the farthest thing on the minds of most of those in Iraq at the moment. Sure, even during bad times there are brief moments that can offer a escape from the daily struggle, that one may reflect on a song or poem or a image. Many solders even have carried a sketchbook to capture these moments.
But the pursuit of the arts as a study is historically reserved to cultures that have first provided their citizens with peace and prosperity enough to pursue leisure activities.
If you cannot see that, then you are ignoring history. Look at the great cultures of the past that have spawned the milestones of the arts: the Greeks, the Romans, China, the Egyptians and the European Renaissance. All of these cultures first needed to provide for the basic needs of peace and prosperity before the arts could flourish. In China it was the Ming Dynasty that brought peace to most of China; in Egypt it was the reign of the pharaohs and the life-giving water of the Nile to support agriculture. And so on through out history. Only after the basic needs of a culture are provided can the arts flourish. It does not make the arts less important; in fact, the point is the arts are the pinnacle of any great culture. But one must lay a foundation before one can reach the pinnacle.