Unf*cking The Republic

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/memberships

See 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/memberships

See 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/memberships

See 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/memberships

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Max and 99 are back for another round of Omnibus and kicking off the Fall Fund, Friend, and Hell Raiser. They cover some midterm predictions, and hit headlines on market humanism and how neoliberalism engineered oligarchy inside the shell of democracy, plus RFK Jr. unilaterally greenlighting unapproved peptide injections over FDA scientists’ objections. Then they tackle listener emails on whether the right really plays the long game, why Democrats abandoned the Biden agenda, and what Serbia’s student movement can teach us about non-negotiables. Enjoy!

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:16

Midterm Predictions: 00:23:55

Headlines: 00:38:24

Emails: 00:54:31

Beyond the Bullshit: 01:25:11

Memberships: 01:28:15

Outro: 01:28:42

Resources

Means Workwear: Mamdanistan Shirt

The New York Times: Kennedy to Allow Broad Use of Unapproved Peptide Injections

Democracy Journal: Market Humanism: A New Paradigm for a New Era

The Guardian: Trump says he asked Google CEO to rename Atlantic Ocean on Maps

UNFTR Resources

Video: 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 Hold Fast.

Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AI bubble is showing signs of a rapid collapse that investors are ignoring. We break down why the market is primed for a crash. Three major developments are signaling that the current AI craze is reaching a breaking point much faster than Wall Street anticipates. From structural risks in China to the accumulation of off-balance-sheet obligations, these warnings are being drowned out by the noise of election cycles and quarterly earnings reports. This analysis examines how major IPOs in the sector are masking underlying instability. By looking past the current hype, we identify the systemic vulnerabilities that suggest an economic correction is already underway for those willing to look at the data.

Resources

SEC: Anthropic S1

Reuters: In China, the AI bubble has already burst

The New York Times: Musk Pledges SpaceX Stock for ‘Every Kid in America’ as Billionaires Push Direct Donations

The Telegraph: China’s AI boom turns to bust: Stocks suffer $480 billion wipeout as ‘now we see the bubble bursting’

Fortune: Alphabet’s Google Cloud revenue doubles to $31 billion as cash flow stays deep red

CNBC: Alphabet sinks 10% as it holds 2026 capex unchanged, expects significant increase in 2027

Bloomberg: Microsoft’s Surging Cloud Sales Show AI Spending Paying Off

The Wall Street Journal: Why Big Tech’s AI Spending Is $3 Trillion Higher Than It Seems

InvestingLive: Big Tech’s AI spending is $3 trillion bigger than balance sheets show

The Noble Update: The credit market just cut off the weakest companies in America

SEC: SpaceX Prospectus

UNFTR Resources

Video: Don’t Buy the AI Hype Before Watching This

Essay: Don’t Buy the AI Hype Before Reading This

--

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/memberships

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we celebrated 99 years of stubborn optimism with Max’s father-in-law, and took seriously his assessment that it’s 1932, with all the chaos and heartache that implies before something better emerges on the other side. Then we dug into the Anthropic prospectus, which confirms what we’ve been saying: it’s not the railroad or the internet, it’s an accelerant to monopolization, greasing the wheels for the companies that are already winning while the rest of the economy starves. The greatest misallocation of capital in history, right on schedule.

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:45

Quick Takes: 00:01:26

Phone A Friend: 00:07:52

Memberships: 00:11:03

Max Notes: 00:12:41

Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:26:13

Outro: 00:27:54

Resources

The Kiffness: Donald Trump BURP REMIX!

Matthew McConaughey On Instagram

CNN: What a photojournalist learned after being beaten by Jewish settlers

American Redact: Ethan Klein’s Cheating Scandal is Worse Than You Think

NBC News: Ramaswamy ad puts Acton’s estranged mother in spotlight as records reveal family’s troubled past

Reuters: France’s Le Pen launches presidential bid as protests rattle the nation

Mother Jones: Lula’s Surprise Win Blocks Trump’s Push for a Far-Right Brazil

Anand Giridharadas: Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City

Bloomberg: Anthropic Mum on Investment Grade as It Warns of More Debt

The Noble Update: This is going to be the biggest misallocation of capital in history

Bell System Memorial: A Capsule History of the Bell System

Enclyopedia.com: Surviving the Great Depression

Butler Eagle: How did there get to be a ‘Big 3’?

More Perfect Union: We Went To Rural Florida: The Healthcare Crisis Will Shock You

UNFTR Resources

Video: On The Record 10-27-26 (What My 99 Year Old Father in Law Taught Me About Technological Revolutions.)

Essay: Anthropic’s IPO Is Very Silly.

Video: 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 Hold Fast.

Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jared Yates Sexton joins Max to analyze the current state of progressive activism and how to effectively challenge the status quo. After years of audience requests, this conversation brings together two critical voices to discuss the mechanics of movement building. We examine how shaping political narratives remains the most vital tool for the Left, particularly when navigating the complexities of the current administration. The conversation moves beyond the typical punditry to address the practical realities of leftist organizing. We break down the necessity of coordinating ground-level efforts to ensure that progressive goals remain front and center in U.S. politics, rather than being sidelined by mainstream distractions.

Resources

Jared Yates Sexton Website

Jared on Bluesky

Dispatches From A Collapsing State Substack

The Muckrake Podcast

Jared Yates Sexton: The Man They Wanted Me to Be: Toxic Masculinity and a Crisis of Our Own Making

Jared Yates Sexton: American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World But Failed Its People

Jared Yates Sexton: The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis

Jared for The New York Times

Jared for The New Republic

Jared for Salon

Dispatches From A Collapsing State: The Case of Hasan Piker: How to Avoid Having a Debate You Can’t Win

Dispatches From A Collapsing State: Descent Into Madness: The Ritualization of Death and Fascism

UNFTR Resources

Video: Phone A Friend: Jared Yates Sexton: Left Activism in the Age of Trump

Transcript: Phone A Friend: Jared Yates Sexton.

5 Non-Negotiables.

Max on Straight White American Jesus.

--

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/memberships

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Max and 99 are back for another round of Omnibus. They hit headlines on the French banlieues erupting and what the protests reveal about the global assault on social spending, and Elon Musk promising every American kid a SpaceX share while barely denting his holdings. Then they tackle listener emails on how lifelong Democratic voters find their footing in a movement that’s outpaced the party, Trump’s “we’re all going to die anyway” worldview, and whether the only options are capitalism or the DSA. Enjoy!

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:18

Headlines: 00:12:14

Emails: 00:26:50

Beyond the Bullshit: 00:58:37

Memberships: 01:05:02

Outro: 01:05:29

Resources

Anand Giridharadas: Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City

Fortune: Billionaire Elon Musk says he’ll give every kid in America shares of SpaceX next year—it’ll add up to over $10 billion in stock

The American Prospect: Is Paris Burning?

World Socialist Web Site: The bond markets, rearmament and the global assault on social spending

UNFTR Resources

Video: Phone A Friend: Jared Yates Sexton: Left Activism in the Age of Trump

--

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/memberships

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reuters “leaked” information from the forthcoming Anthropic prospectus and the numbers were pretty brutal. But that isn’t stopping all of Wall Street from lining up to invest in yet another AI company (SpaceX) with no discernible path to profitability. In this episode, Max digs through what we learned from the Reuters release and pairs it with other publicly available information on Anthropic to paint a bleak picture of a five-year old company that loses a ton of money but is somehow asking to be valued at around $2 trillion. Max then leads a philosophical discussion about the future of AI and punching babies. (That last part will make more sense in context.)

Resources

Reuters: Anthropic’s IPO prospectus shows sweeping AI vision, surging costs

Perplexity Finance: AMZN

Perplexity Finance: XOM

Perplexity Finance: C

Reuters: Anthropic IPO valuation hinges on $190-200 billion 2028 revenue forecast, sources say

Yahoo! Finance: Anthropic IPO Filing Reveals a Major Vulnerability: Nearly 50% of Sales Flow Through Amazon and Google as Revenue Concentration Raises Risks: Report

AI: Reset to Zero: Anthropic Paces the Frontier, and Floors the IPO

Financial Times: Anthropic tells investors it will be profitable for second straight quarter

The New York Times: The Fallout From OpenAI’s Revenue Surprise

Bloomberg: Anthropic’s Annualized Revenue to Top $100 Billion in 2026, NYT Says

TechTarget: Report: Anthropic locks in $518B AI infrastructure commitments

Measured AI: Anthropic’s 15+ GW Data Center Build: Claude’s Compute, Campuses, and Chips

Fortune: The hidden menace behind Big Tech’s AI arms race: Meta, Amazon, and others are spending billions on hardware that’s worthless in as little as 3 years, says Research Affiliates partner

Investing.com: Earnings call transcript: Alphabet beats Q2 2026 estimates, shares fall on capex surge

Flowtivity: US vs China AI Models Compared: GPT-6 Astra, Fable 5.1, GLM 5.3, Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4, Qwen 3.8

BBC News: Amazon finally flows into profit

AEI: Who Should Antitrust Protect? The Case of Diapers.com

CNBC: SpaceX raises $25 billion in debt sale less than two weeks after IPO

Tech Times: Anthropic $15B Credit Line: Banks Commit $1B-Plus Each to Lock In IPO Roles

Yahoo! Finance: Wall Street tests lender appetite with $60 billion Broadcom-Anthropic deal

Dario Amodei: We Must Pace the Frontier

CSI Magazine: FCC says broadband competition is driving faster speeds and wider coverage

UNFTR Resources

Video: Anthropic, AI, and Why We Need to Talk About Punching Babies.

Essay: Mis(Anthropic).

Episode: The SpaceX IPO Fraud.

--

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

Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/memberships

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.