Another bit about jobs, the government and the "free market". A few years ago, I read an article that said that the big layoffs that occurred in the mid-seventies in the music business (mostly in artist development) were the result of a slowing in the rate of growth of the profit margins for the big record companies. Take a moment to look at that statement: it wasn't that record labels weren't showing a profit. The problem was that the amount of additional profits that they anticipated was levelling off. And the odd thing was that this happened at all labels across the board.

Anyone who worked in the music biz at that time, or who (like me) was trying to get a band recorded, remembers the slashing of jobs as devastating to the development of acts and diversity of what was being recorded. Coincidently, this all took place after the government closed "blue sky" tax loopholes that allowed labels to write-off development costs and essentially pay for their mistakes in reduced taxes, rather than take losses.

All of this laid the groundwork and set the stage for the "corporate rock" of today.