Unf*cking The Republic

Nick Hanauer of Civic Ventures and the Pitchfork Economics Podcast sits down with Max for a lengthy discussion on economic systems. For the past few years, Nick has worked closely with economists from around the world to develop a new framework called Market Humanism to fundamentally shift the current post-neoliberal paradigm toward something more beneficial for the masses and away from the one percent.  Resources Pitchfork Economics Podcast Civic Ventures Nick Hanauer’s Website Institute for New Economic Thinking Democracy: A Journal: Market Humanism: A New Paradigm for a New Era Markets Built for Humans Jacobin: Thomas Piketty’s Utopian Socialism Thomas Piketty: Capital in the Twenty-First Century Nick on Bluesky Nick on Facebook Nick on Substack UNFTR Resources Video: Phone A Friend: Nick Hanauer Transcript: Phone A Friend: Nick Hanauer -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Intro music by Tom McGovern.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the initial post-election market gains, the stock market came crashing back down to earth with losses heavily concentrated in the tech center. The AI trade is coming under intense scrutiny and pressure with several states voting for moratoriums against new data center construction. Other factors like hyperscaler debt and cash flow issues, nebulous financing agreements, and slowing revenue growth from high profile companies like Anthropic are poisoning the AI investment narrative. And Donald Trump, one of its biggest proponents who has been blocking and tackling for the industry and giving it everything it asks for, was just hammered in the midterms. Resources Yahoo! Finance: Chipmakers Tumble Toward Worst Day In Years: Nvidia, Micron And Broadcom Down Over 8% CNBC: What was really behind Wednesday’s monster rally? Trump quickly making peace Bloomberg: S&P 500 Sinks 4% as AI Washout Rattles Wall Street: Markets Wrap Yahoo! Finance: Wall Street Selloff Sends Nasdaq Down 4% as Dow Plunges More Than 1,000 Points Bradenton Herald: Investors wipe $2.5 trillion off Nasdaq as blue tsunami prompts AI fears Compute Law Blog: Bonus depreciation for AI data center equipment The American Prospect: The Companies That Got $83 Billion in Tax Breaks Last Year The White House: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Accelerates Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure investingLive: US government builds $30bn stock portfolio across 43 deals in chips, minerals and quantum Politico: ‘AI earthquake’: Democrats eye a Silicon Valley reckoning The Business Times: Alphabet shares fall after revenue miss, cash burn worsens CNBC: Alphabet sinks 10% as it holds 2026 capex unchanged, expects significant increase in 2027 SEC: Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results CNBC: Amazon posts negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion, holds 2026 capex unchanged SEC: Oracle Announces Q1 Results Driven by Triple Digit Growth in Cloud Infrastructure Revenues FourWeekMBA: AI Weekly: Capex Outran Cash as Off-Book Bills Neared $4T SEC: Anthropic S1 Trading Economics: US 10-Year Yield Falls on Safe-Haven Demand Reuters: AI credit worries send default insurance to record high BBC News: These firms you’ve never heard of are feeding fears the AI bubble could burst FourWeekMBA: How Neoclouds Work: 6% Debt on Microsoft Rent, and 4 Risks Reuters: Trump lashes out at Fed after Warsh backs rate hike Mother Jones: Midterm Rout for Data Centers: Voters in Nearly 40 Towns Rejected Projects CNBC: Voters rebuff data centers in every ballot measure except one during the 2026 midterms 24/7 Wall Street: IREN Sinks 9% After Report Links It to Microsoft’s AI Spending Delay; Nebius Tumbles 11%, CoreWeave Slides 7% South China Morning Post: How Democratic sweep could slow AI growth in US – and help China’s ambitions State of AI: Is AI Data Center Debt the Next Subprime? Bisnow: Life Insurers Writing Riskier Loans To CRE, Setting Off Alarm Bells The New York Times: U.S. Pensions Are Riding the A.I. Wave. For Better or Worse. InvestmentNews: Democrats take Congress: what it means for your clients UNFTR Resources Video: Tech Stocks Crashed After the Midterms. Here’s Why. Essay: The Market Just Lost Its Sugar Daddy. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Intro music by Hold Fast.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Max and 99 for a special midterm recap edition of Omnibus! Chapters Intro: 00:00:31 Midterms Recap: 00:01:35 Headlines: 01:11:12 Emails: 01:11:43 FFFHR: 01:18:08 Memberships: 01:31:02 Outro: 01:31:44 Resources Mother Jones: Voters Rejected the Political System the Supreme Court Created Mother Jones: The GOP’s Mid-Decade Gerrymandering Strategy Was an Epic Fail Common Dreams: After Blue Tsunami, Progressives Say ‘This Is a Mandate to Deliver Big Change’ Jacobin: Last Night’s Victories Were Made Possible by Zohran Mamdani UNFTR Resources Video: The Left Won Big. But So Did the Center. The Fight Ahead. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Intro music by Hold Fast.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Action packed On The Record with midterm predictions and a look at the chaos unfolding all across Europe. Features include Haley Stephens revealing her true allegiance, Scott Bessent hiding from a legitimate question, the UK government encouraging citizens to stockpile for emergencies, and Christine Lagarde throwing in the towel. Killer Left Take of the Week goes to Adam McKay’s studio for its new mock infomercial on Exxon. We’ve got a snippet from our Phone A Friend with Pitchfork Economics co-host Nick Hanauer and a special Max Notes segment on the military budget. Chapters Intro: 00:00:38 Quick Takes: 00:01:39 Memberships: 00:06:10 Phone A Friend: 00:08:04 Max Notes: 00:10:15 Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:23:52 Chart of the Week: 00:25:05 Outro: 00:26:57 Resources CNN: Multiple Stevens aides quit after she endorses MI GOP Senate candidate AIPAC Tracker: Haley Stevens Sees Israel In Her Dreams BBC News: Why is the UK telling people to stockpile? Bloomberg Television: ECB’s Lagarde Says She Can’t Stay Neutral in Current Situation KARE 11: Treasury Secretary asked about ICE paying for MN prison The New York Times: Iran War Cost Rises to $47.1 Billion, Pentagon Told Lawmakers SIPRI: Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025 Head Start: About the Office of Head Start Democracy: A Journal of Ideas: Market Humanism: A New Paradigm for a New Era POGO: The True Total U.S. Military Budget DefenseNews: Pentagon fails financial audit for 8th year in a row Straight Arrow News: Pentagon’s failed audit obscures how taxpayer dollars are actually being used npr: U.S. withdrawal from Iraq is complete CNN: US troops complete Iraq exit, as Iran and its allies celebrate Brown: Costs of the 20-year war on terror: $8 trillion and 900,000 deaths A-Mark Foundation: Afghanistan War: U.S. Deaths and Costs Task & Purpose: 2 airmen died in noncombat incidents while supporting Iran war operations Polygraph: Over 110 US military aircraft lost or damaged in Iran War Task & Purpose: US munition stockpile ‘especially problematic’ in a war with China, report warns Forever Wars: No, The Navy’s Lasers Are Not Ready for Iranian Drones Bloomberg: US Starts at ‘Basically Zero’ in Cheap Military Drones (Correct) MarineLink: Inside Iran’s Precision Strikes on Port, Energy Infrastructure Responsible Statecraft: 750 US Military bases remain around the planet Yellow Dot Studios: New Exxon El Niño Commercial 270toWin UNFTR Resources Video: Phone A Friend: Nick Hanauer Essay: The Duhpartment of Duhfense. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Intro music by Tom McGovern.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anand Giridharadas joins the show to discuss the fatal subway encounter involving Jordan Neely and what it says about America. We examine the death of Jordan Neely through the lens of Anand Giridharadas’ new book, Man in the Mirror. The conversation moves beyond the immediate headlines to explore how this tragedy functions as a national Rorschach test, forcing us to confront the divide between those who view such acts as necessary vigilante violence and those who recognize a systemic failure of care. This episode provides a critical look at modern American politics, analyzing how urban decay and inequality shape our collective reactions to public tragedy. By centering the lived experience of the victims, we gain a clearer understanding of how these events are framed by the media and what that framing reveals about our current social landscape. Resources Anand Giridharadas Website Anand on Twitter Anand on Instagram Anand on Bluesky Anand Giridharadas: Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City Anand Giridharadas: The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas Anand for The New York Times UNFTR Resources Video: Anand Giridharadas | What a Subway Murder says About America Transcript: Phone A Friend: Anand Giridharadas -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility Intro music by Tom McGovern.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.