Unf*cking The Republic

Oil is everywhere. It’s all around us. It’s in everything and it makes the world go around. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that renewable energy will comprise 27% of the world’s energy production by 2050, all things being equal. Pretty great, right? Not really. Based upon population and economic growth trends, the EIA also predicts that the use of liquid fuels will continue t...

This week’s alliterative Quickie is brought to you by the letter “i.” In typical Quickie fashion we delve into three distinct but related topics: Invasion, Inflation & Immigration, as seen through the lens of Fox News. We’ll tie in some prior themes and set the table for a couple of future episodes in this barn burner of a Quickie featuring the worst people on television. For those listening a...

In part two of “Libertarians are Exhausting” we’re still talking about freedom and liberty. Economic freedom, personal liberty and the next important concept we need to unpack: The Rule of Law. Plus we'll take a look at the masters of the libertarian universe (aka the brains, money, economists and lawyers) behind the nouveau American style fiscal-anarcho-capitalist-minarchist-neoliberal-objectivis...

Libertarians can be exhausting. Because libertarianism has so many attractive features and strong statements about “freedom” and “liberty” they have a lot of perceived political high ground when arguing with them. The problem with libertarianism - as it is with Marxism, capitalism and so many other philosophies - is that it’s entirely theoretical. Trying to construct an actual framework around the...

As many of you know, we’ve had this on the pod-docket for months. It’s finally time to unf*ck our food system and talk about veganism. We decided not to pursue this topic from a moral or ethical perspective, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a story about justice. 40% of the world’s working population is in some way employed in the food and agriculture sector. A third of all food is wasted. 50% of...

Our little Unf*cking team wishes the Unf*cking community a safe and healthy holiday season. We'll be back on January 8th with a new drop but here's a Holiday Quickie to tide you over. In this Quickie we examine three positive things that have occurred since Biden took office. (We had to look pretty hard for these, but wanted to end on a positive note.) Then we offer thanks and praise to Joe Manchi...

From Pullman and Carnegie to Kellogg's and the PRO Act, this week we unf*ck the labor movement in the United States. No single episode can possibly do labor justice but we give it our best shot. The episode includes a blow-by-blow analysis of a recent interview with the CEO of Kellogg's to translate Wall Street speak for “how to fuck workers and influence inflation.” And we rip off a few Milton re...

There were 15 references to China in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. The recent bill passed by the House, which is more than what President Biden requested (because that makes fucking sense) contains 89 references to China. It’s official. We have our new existential bogeyman threat. Battle stations, everyone. We’re going to war with China. Someday. Or are we? Why would we? What the ac...

Today we celebrate the life of Noam Chomsky who turns 93 this week and discuss the nature of punditry, the role of true intellectuals in today’s society and the cult of pseudo intellectual charlatans.  [2026 Edit] To learn how we feel today, please read our post-Epstein take on Chomsky . Chapters 00:01:32 Intro 00:04:52 Segment 1 00:17:22 Segment 2 00:27:02 Segment 3 00:33:28 Show Notes...

It’s chilly here in New York so we’ve got the Caribbean on the brain. Actually, we’re just building on our money and power episodes and tying in lessons from our shows on Milton Friedman, Cuba and climate change. Because we can’t just sit on a beach sipping a frozen drink with an umbrella. But that’s why you love us. The United States didn’t invent colonialism in the Caribbean, we just perfected i...

President Biden signed H.R. 3684 into law with leaders in Washington breaking their arms to pat themselves on the back. Never mind that the infrastructure bill is either 20% or 40% of what the American Society of Civil Engineers believes is necessary (depending upon your interpretation of the allocated funds), or that it doesn’t begin to address climate change, or that it’s stuffed with old school...

Last week we reviewed the global order of money. Today we examine money’s sister, power. It’s an American-centric journey spanning 75 years, from the Cold War through the War on Terror. We start with a deep dive into the five years following the Second World War and highlight the men who crafted the policies that would determine the fate of the world. We dissect how these policies changed over the...

We’ve hit on some big economic themes from capitalism and socialism to deregulation, privatization and Modern Monetary Theory. And we’re typically focused on results and outcomes of policies related to these theories. Today we’re taking a step back to examine the nature of capital and examining the nature of currency, trade and debt. Money is great, but who prints it? Who decides how much to print...

In this week’s installment of how to lose friends and disappoint people, we’re talking about the independent platform media culture, mostly of the male persuasion. So, yes. Much of this will drip with irony as I, a white male with a small platform, attempt to mansplain how to think about other men with platforms. Our three main subjects today have been in the news for various reasons. Dave Chappel...

In today’s cure for insomnia episode, we explore the origins of the ISMs the pundit class abuses each and every day. We’re focusing on the big ones. Fascism, Socialism, Communism, Marxism and Capitalism. The show covers the theorists who created these theories, touch on the circumstances that inspired their thinking and how far from these concepts we have moved as a society. Plus, we’ll talk throu...

Today’s episode is a mashup of a Quickie and a full fledged Unf*cking. We start by going back in time to tell the origin story of the Progressive Party colloquially known as the Bull Moose Party. We examine the original party platform and draw a straight line between the issues facing the nation in 1912 that still face us today. Then we follow with a Quickie on three progressive members of the Hou...

It’s the one-year anniversary of Unf*cking the Republic. Yay us. Only 1.6 million other podcasts have passed this historic mark. We couldn’t let the moment pass, however, without offering our profound thanks to those who got us here on this little journey of ours. So today we reflect a bit on the last year, draw some conclusions and tie things up with a bow. We end with a look forward at some of t...

Economist John Williamson presented a paper titled The Washington Consensus in 1989. More of a reflection than a policy statement, the Washington Consensus became a policy framework in the neoliberal school of expansion and trade, particularly as it relates to Latin America and the Caribbean. Today we examine the legacy of Williamson’s seminal paper, how it has echoed throughout American foreign p...

Today we begin a conversation about the LGBTQ movement in the United States, with a nod to our Canadian friends as well. In order to properly introduce issues facing LGBTQ people into the larger context of socio economic and political topics we cover on UNFTR, we wanted to start with a conversation about the evolving language of inclusion and representation within the LGBTQ community.  Resources E...

Today we break from our format to introduce you to our partners from Native Coffee Traders on the Poospatuck Reservation in New York. Harry Wallace, the elected chief of the Unkechaug people, founded Native Coffee Traders in 1994. The company is now run by his niece and head roaster Amy Wallace. Harry and Amy joined Max in the studio to discuss issues facing native people today, the importance of...

The world is more fucked than the United States. And we’re pretty fucked, so that’s saying a lot. Perhaps there’s a way to mitigate this mess by playing upon our worst instincts as a nation and the competitiveness that drives the world. Today we take an alternative view of our response to climate change through the lens of the most dispassionate and powerful observer in the world: The U.S. Militar...

Today’s episode is a departure from our normal format. We were tempted to let the 20th anniversary of 9/11 pass given it will be oversaturated with remembrances and armchair punditry as well as the usual tragedy porn imagery. But the impact of 9/11 remains so widespread that it’s impossible to ignore. So, we wanted to add something honest, critical and ultimately hopeful to the mix. This episode c...

The last time California had a “successful” gubernatorial recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor. While we try not to wade into current events, there is significance in this current attempt to unseat Gavin Newsom that goes far beyond the borders of California. In this episode we catch up on what’s happening in California. Beyond the biblical weather events, an ongoing plague and rampant hom...

We love to promote our democratic principles. We love to spread them across the globe as well. But there are three procedural quirks in our system that are so laughably undemocratic it’s surreal. The Electoral College, filibuster and gerrymandering have been such integral parts of our system for so long that we barely recognize them for the travesties they are. Right now, Democrats have tenuous co...

Operation “Blame the Afghan People” is in full swing. The countdown to us forgetting completely about Afghanistan has also just begun and the media is doing its best to shove a comparative narrative to Vietnam down our throats. Today’s episode explores our national amnesia, examines the Vietnam comparison, talks about what happens when our occupations end and questions the continuation of a wartim...