This opening track explores the transformative policies of the New Deal and immediate post-WWII era. It documents how Social Security lifted 17 million Americans out of poverty, how the Wagner Act's collective bargaining rights created a 12.8% wage premium for union workers, and how the GI Bill provided educational access to veterans (49% of college students by 1947). The track also addresses the historical complexity of these programs, particularly the discriminatory implementation of the GI Bill that created lasting wealth gaps. Musically, it combines triumphant boom-bap production with contemplative moments, reflecting both the era's achievements and its shortcomings.

1935

This track examines the 1947 legislation that fundamentally altered labor relations in America. It details how the Act introduced "right-to-work" provisions, eliminated closed shops, authorized employer "captive audience" meetings, and restricted various union activities including jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. The track presents the statistical correlation between declining union membership and the shrinking middle class (both declined by approximately 8 percentage points over the studied period). The production is more aggressive and confrontational, matching the contentious nature of this policy shift that labor advocates, including President Truman, strongly opposed.

Taft-Hartley Forty-Seven

On August 15, 1971, the post-WWII monetary order changed overnight. This track explores Nixon's decision to suspend gold convertibility, ending the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. It examines how this shift enabled unprecedented capital mobility while labor remained geographically constrained, creating new asymmetries in the global economy. The track discusses the 10% import surcharge, wage and price controls, and the transition to floating currencies. The psychedelic, disorienting production mirrors the uncertainty and instability of this monetary transition, creating a sonic representation of an economic system unmoored from its previous anchors.

Nixon Shock Seventy-One

This track documents the Federal Reserve's dramatic interest rate increases designed to combat inflation through engineered recession. It examines research showing how contractionary monetary policy disproportionately affected less-skilled workers and racial minorities through higher unemployment rates and longer unemployment spells. The track analyzes the institutional pivot from the Fed's New Deal-era full employment mandate toward prioritizing inflation control and financial stability. The dark, heavy production with deep bass and ominous piano creates an atmosphere of economic hardship, reflecting the recession's impact on working-class communities.

The Volcker Years

The final track examines the period following China's 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization. It presents research documenting the loss of 6 million U.S. manufacturing jobs between 1999 and 2011, with 2.4 million directly attributed to trade competition with China. The track explores the economic trade-off between consumer benefits (a 7.6% decline in the manufacturing price index meant cheaper goods and greater variety) and the hollowing out of manufacturing communities, particularly in the Rust Belt. The somber, reflective production with acoustic elements and factory ambient sounds creates a documentary feel, appropriate for examining this geographic and economic transformation.

Trade Story

this one goes out to I.P. Intellectual Prophecy
 Much love

Big shout out
CEO with no recovery
[Verse 1]
Fifty-two million in twenty-four, that's your compensation
While you gutted the workforce, mass layoff devastation
Two forty-six back in twenty-one, stock options peaked
Shareholders voting no, sixty percent critique
You took Batgirl, ninety million, locked it in a vault
Coyote versus Acme next, completed—not your fault?
Tax write-off better than release
Artists worked for years but you burned their masterpiece
CEO-to-worker ratio two-ninety to one
While you banking millions, workers wondering what they done
[Hook]
Tax write-off, tax write-off
Burn the movies, pay yourself off
Working class lost while the exec prospers
Tax write-off, tax write-off
Art's got zero value when you're cutting costs
[Verse 2]
Company lost eleven billion, twenty-four was rough
But somehow you exceeded bonus targets—that's enough?
Adjusted E.B.I.T.D.A, that's how you game the system
Financial metrics rigged so compensation hits em
Cost savings one point eight billion—workers hit the street
Thousands laid off while you pocket fifty million sweet
CNN, TNT, TBS—refinement rounds
Production staff and editors can't pay for grounds
[Verse 3]
Writers' strike, twenty-three, one forty-eight days long
You resisted fair demands, then admitted you were wrong
"They were right about almost everything," you said at last
After crew members lost their homes, couldn't pay for gas
Health insurance lapsed, families struggling to survive
While you waited out the strike, keeping profits alive
Patton Oswalt called you out by name at Golden Reels
"Movies locked for tax breaks"—that's your appeal
[Hook]
Tax write-off, tax write-off
Burn the movies, pay yourself off
Working class lost while the exec prospers
Tax write-off, tax write-off
David Zaslav, boss of loss
[Verse 4]
Representative Castro called for investigation
Predatory, anti-competitive, burning for compensation
"Like burning down a building for the insurance money"
Tax code exploitation ain't artistic, ain't funny
Two billion more in content planned to write down
Artists' labor rendered worthless, permanently negated
John Cena, Will Forte, Lana Condor too
Cast and crew who worked for years—what'd they do to you?
[Bridge]
This ain't jealousy of your corporate climb
This about the human cost of every dollar, dime
Thousands of hours, artists pouring out their soul
You erased them for accounting, made the art your toll
Cultural vandalism dressed in fiscal responsibility
Workers are not "redundancies," they're people with families
[Verse 5]
Discovery channels went from education to trash
Now Warner's getting same treatment, IP cash
Harry Potter, DC, that's the only play
Original voices silenced, don't generate pay
Consolidation reduces buyers, suppresses wage
Bargaining power weakens, workers trapped in cage
You're maximizing shareholder value, that's the creed
Social cost uncounted—workers left to bleed
[Verse 6]
December twenty-five, Netflix dropped eighty-three billion
Twenty-seven seventy-five per share, you're getting your fill and
Four-twenty million in stock options you signed early this year
Bidding war with Paramount, billionaire status clear
Ellison offered thirty per share, hundred-eight hostile bid
You ghosted his texts after dinner, that's what you did
Paramount been courting twelve weeks, raising the price
You played them against Netflix, rolled the dice twice
Six-sixty million payout, net worth past a billion
While forty billion debt got workers barely living
This all about getting YOU paid before you leave
Selling off the company, that's the reprieve
From your mismanagement, your tax write-off schemes
You're cashing out massive while destroying workers' dreams


Burn It Down for the Write-Off

THE MARGINALIST. Systemic struggle sounds.
  
Support the fight for economic justice:  
✊ Economic Policy Institute https://www.epi.org/donate-re/
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✊ Jobs with Justice https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-jobs-with-justice

"BREAD AND ROSES" is an album to educate. Every track is a history lesson set to a beat, analyzing how we got here—from the rise of union power to the era of corporate bailouts.

Using the power of music and the structure of the policy brief:

    "They call it right-to-work / I call it right to hurt"
    "Too big to fail, too poor to bail"

Listen to the counter-revolution. Build the solution.

The Marginalist

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