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Quote by Tom Morello

“Poverty is not an accident of, sort of, an economic spreadsheet. Poverty is a crime. There are criminals involved. And those criminals walk the streets as free men. What my music is about, and what - this from the riots in the streets of Greece and Spain to the people's uprisings in Egypt and Libya and Madison is about is holding those people accountable, those who are responsible for subverting the entire global economy and causing so much misery and then laughing about it with their, you know, clinking their champagne glasses on their yachts.”

Quote by Tom Morello

Author

Tom Morello
Tom Morello

Tom Morello, born on May 30, 1964, is a renowned guitarist. Known for his unique playing style and passion for music, he is a prominent figure in the rock music scene. more

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“My take is that there's two ways to approach history. You sit in your armchair and you watch it on the news and you return to your PlayStation. Or you get out in the streets and you make it. Like, when those Supreme Court justices, you know, legalize desegregation, it wasn't due to their infinite wisdom. It's because people whose names you do not read about in history books, people whose faces you will never see, were the ones who struggled and sacrificed, sometimes gave their lives, to make this country a more equal one. When, it's like those people don't make history, it's us.”

“Me and my bandmate having known each other and worked together for so long, the process between us is kind of effortless. We've both played in other bands and recorded things outside of Foxygen, but there's something about what happens between our personalities when we make music that works. Also, with it being just the two of us, we don't have the problems that other bands do. We don't have a bass player saying, "What about my parts?" We play all the instruments between us, and we don't really have much ego about that stuff.”

“A centerpiece for any kind of progressive social and economic program needs to be full employment with decent wages and working conditions. The reasons are starting with money. Does someone in your family have a job and, if so, how much does it pay? For the overwhelming majority of the world's population, how one answers these two questions determines, more than anything else, what one's living standard will be. But beyond just money, your job is also crucial for establishing your ability to raise a family, and your chances to participate in the life of your community.”

“For any economy, there are two basic factors determining how many jobs are available at any given time. The first is the overall level of activity - with GDP as a rough, if inadequate measure of overall activity - and the second is what share of GDP goes to hiring people into jobs. In terms of our current situation, after the Great Recession hit in full in 2008, US GDP has grown at an anemic average rate of 1.3 percent per year, as opposed to the historic average rate from 1950 until 2007 of 3.3 percent.”

“It is true that building a green economy will not be good for everyone's jobs. Notably, people working in the fossil fuel industry will face major job losses. The communities in which these jobs are concentrated will also face significant losses. But the solution here is straightforward: Just Transition policies for the workers, families and communities who will be hurt as the coal, oil and natural gas industries necessarily contract to zero over roughly the next 30 years.”

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