Unf*cking The Republic

It’s week two of the Spring Fund, Friend and Hell Raiser (become a yearly member by 4/30/26 and get an exclusive UNFTR hat)!

Max and 99 dive into the Iran crisis, breaking down the impossible logistics of war and the absurdity of competing peace plans. They hit headlines on the MAHA pipeline, record military spending, and crypto-backed mortgages, tackle listener emails on rallies and wealth concentration, then rank their Top 5 podcasts that radicalized them. Enjoy!

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:08

Headlines: 00:21:32

Emails: 00:47:24

Top 5: 01:13:17

Beyond the Bullshit: 01:24:12

Memberships: 01:35:38

Outro: 01:37:12

Resources

Polygraph: Trump proposes largest military budget ever

The Kinks: Apeman

New York Times: You Might Have Already Fallen for MAHA’s Conspiracy Theories

The New Yorker: Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted?

Wall Street Journal: The Decadelong Feud Shaping the Future of AI

New York Times: My Quest to Solve Bitcoin’s Great Mystery

CNBC: Fannie Mae accepts first crypto-backed mortgage product

Mon Rovîa: Heavy Foot

UNFTR Resources

Episode: Housing in America.

Become a Member.

UNFTR’s 5 Non-Negotiables.

Book Love

Abdul El-Sayed + Micah Johnson: Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide

Top 5

Conspirituality

The Dream

Last Podcast on the Left

American Scandal

Best of the Left

Media Roots

Chapo Trap House

Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Intercepted

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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.

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Leaders far smarter and more capable than Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth have started foreign wars that turned to quagmires. So in this regard they are not special. What’s different this time around is that incompetence prevails in every corner of this administration and the economic levers that are usually pulled to mitigate the domestic economic impact are no longer available to us. In every way, this administration is wholly unfit to lead the nation and certainly incapable of prosecuting a war.

Resources

The Chris Hedges Report: Will There be a Ground Invasion of Iran? (w/ Col. Larry Wilkerson)

UNFTR Resources

Become a Member.

UNFTR’s 5 Non-Negotiables.

Video: Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump Are Not Ready for War

Essay: Trump and Hegseth.

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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.

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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.

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The No Kings rallies fanned out across the United States in protest of Donald Trump’s increasingly dangerous, erratic and autocratic regime. Cuba remains in darkness, the war in Iran has already turned into a quagmire, the economy is cratering and Americans are feeling powerless in the face of Trump’s rule. In this episode Max ruminates on the liberation of “America” from a different era as told by the life and times of Simon Bolívar, one of the great military commanders and political leaders of the post-Enlightenment era. His was truly a revolution of “no kings.” In Bolívar’s approach we can learn about combating despotism.

UNFTR Resources

Become a Member.

UNFTR’s 5 Non-Negotiables.

Video: Trump will leave | It's Trumpism we're now fighting

Essay: No King.

Book Love

Marie Arana: Bolívar: American Liberator

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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.

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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.

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

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Max and 99 are back from vacation and kicking off their Spring Fund, Friend and Hell Raiser. They hit headlines on Olympic testing, Israel's Lebanon plans, and ChatGPT in cars, then tackle listener emails on U.S. solvency narratives and economic warning signs. They rank their Top 5 local issues, and they close with some lighthearted beyond the bullshit.

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:08

Housekeeping: 00:04:06

Headlines: 00:13:03

Emails: 00:28:23

Top 5: 00:49:28

Beyond the Bullshit: 01:14:07

Memberships: 01:21:00

Outro: 01:21:38

Resources

Become a Member.

UNFTR’s 5 Non-Negotiables.

Mother Jones: The Ugly History Behind the Olympics’ New Gender Test

CFR: Israel Announces Plan to Occupy Southern Lebanon

9To5Mac: ChatGPT app launches for CarPlay on iOS 26.4

Bloomberg: Virgin Galactic Is Booking Space Trips at $750,000 Apiece

Yahoo Finance: The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it

David Korowicz: Trade Off: Financial system supply-chain cross contagion: a study in global systemic collapse

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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.

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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.

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

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The United States is in a full-blown housing crisis — and Congress just passed the most significant bipartisan housing legislation in a generation: The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act cleared the Senate 89-10, co-sponsored by Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott. So why won’t it fix the problem? In this episode, we break down exactly what the bill does, what it deliberately leaves out, and why the structural forces driving housing unaffordability in America—rising mortgage rates, institutional investors, zoning failures, generational wealth inequality, and decades of racial exclusion—are largely untouched by any legislation currently on the table. From the redlining of Levittown and Stuyvesant Town to the 2008 financial crisis and the asset inflation chasm it created, we trace how homeownership became both the engine of the American Dream and the mechanism of its denial. We also look at what actually works, like how Vienna’s social housing model has kept half a city affordably housed for over a century, and ask the question no one in Washington wants to answer: short of a depression, what does it actually take to make housing affordable again?

Resources

National Mortgage Professional: What’s The Rookie Home Buying Age? Not 40, New Analysis Shows

HUD: The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress

National Low Income Housing Coalition

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies: The State of the Nation's Housing 2025

Congress: H.R.6644 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

The White House: Stopping Wall Street from Competing with Main Street Homebuyers

U.S. Census Bureau: Housing Vacancies and Homeownership (HVS) Q4 2025

Enterprise Community Partners: Four Key Findings from the 2025 State of the Nation's Housing Report

National Low Income Housing Coalition: The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes 2025

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: FHA Loan Production Report June 2025

Bipartisan Policy Center: What's in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

NPR: Senate Passes Bipartisan Housing Bill Targeting Large Investors

National Mortgage Professional: What's the Rookie Home Buying Age? Not 40, New Analysis Shows

National Association of Realtors: 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

Gravel Institute: How Socialists Solved the Housing Crisis

Book Love

Richard Rothstein: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Mehrsa Baradaran: The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap

UNFTR Resources

Episode: The Economics of Racism.

Video: The Economics of Racism.

Episode: Housing in America.

Video: Congress Just Passed a Housing Bill That Changes Nothing.

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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.

Why the Democratic Party’s promise of “restoration” misses the mark; how decades of economic crises reshaped American politics, and why returning to center means chasing a target that keeps moving right. One side built a durable monument to white nationalist capitalism while the other became its world-class pit crew. The fight isn’t about competence or committee chairs. It’s about whether Democrats can offer an actual vision for the future instead of just patching up the damage Republicans leave behind.

Book Love

Kurt Andersen: Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History

Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

Chris Hedges: Death of the Liberal Class

Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Mehrsa Baradaran: The Quiet Coup: Neoliberalism and the Looting of America

Jeff Sharlet: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Nancy MacLean: Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America

Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Professor Thomas Piketty: Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Karl Marx: Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1

UNFTR Resources

Video: Democrats are FAILING | Losing the Iran War | Hasan Piker Rules

Essay: Why I’m So Mad at the Democratic Party.

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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.

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Max and 99 are running hot this week. They break down catastrophic inflation data and what it means for stagflation ahead, hit headlines on animal welfare legislation and foreign policy chaos, and tackle listener emails on Democratic failures and economic warning signs. Off-topic covers toxic RFK Jr. and standout character actors. They rank their Top 5 comfort movies and close with spring training optimism. Enjoy!

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:08

Headlines: 00:06:12

Emails: 00:19:17

Top 5: 00:36:22

Beyond the Bullshit: 00:53:23

Outro: 00:59:24

Resources

99’s Hat

ASPCA: Farm Bill Moves Forward with Mixed Results for Animals

Animal Legal Defense Fund: Petition: Stop Horses from Suffering for NYC’s Carriage Industry

Forever Wars: None of These People I Insulted Want To Die For Me in The Strait of Hormuz?

The Independent: Chelsea Handler claims she bought ‘the most toxic’ $6 million house from RFK Jr and Cheryl Hines

The Ringer: ‘The Pitt,’ as Told by Its Patients: If you think it’s hectic to watch, just imagine what it’s like to be on the operating table

UNFTR Resources

Video: Iran War, Energy Spike, and the Inflation Perfect Storm

Episode: The Art of Trumpflation.

Video: On The Record 3-16-26 (Democrats are FAILING | Losing the Iran War | Hasan Piker Rules).

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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.

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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.

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The February Producer Price Index (PPI) data release came in way hotter than expected, exceeding consensus expectations by nearly double. This is on top of an already hot January report, which signifies that goods and services inflation in the pipeline is very much a trend and not an isolated event. PPI typically foreshadows consumer inflation—where the public really begins to feel the pain—by about two to three months. And these numbers don’t include the impact of the war in Iran and the unbelievable spike in energy costs. Today we break down the nature of inflation shocks, why this differs from the dual oil shocks of the 1970s, but how it has already produced the same stagflationary result.

Resources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Producer Price Index News Release summary

Trading Economics: United States Producer Price Inflation MoM

Wolf Street: Core PCE Inflation Hits 3.1%, Worst in 2 Years, in Unique Twist Blows way past CPI Inflation. Driven by Core Services

Morningstar: Inflation Set to Rise in 2026 as Tariff Costs Hit Consumers

KPMG: Headline masks lingering inflation

CNBC: $100 oil? Prolonged Hormuz closure could spark a 1970s-style energy shock

Yahoo Finance: Oil at the Edge: Markets brace for the largest supply shock in decades: Oil & Gas 360

Investopedia: Understanding Hubbert's Peak Theory and Global Oil Production

Bloomberg Law: Morgan Stanley Sees Private Credit Default Rates Reaching 8% (2)

Business Insider: Morgan Stanley says AI disruption of software will send private credit defaults surging

UNFTR Resources

Video: Iran War, Energy Spike, and the Inflation Perfect Storm

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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.

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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.

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Max and 99 kick things off revisiting old predictions and check how they're holding up. They hit the headlines: billionaires breaking records, geopolitical conflict threatening economic stability, and monopoly concerns in the music industry. Listener emails cover politics, financial industry backdoors, and navigating complicity. They rank their Top 5 historical figures to reclaim, do some movie talk, and member shoutouts round it out. Enjoy!

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:18

Housekeeping: 00:00:34

Headlines: 00:21:13

Emails: 00:48:54

Top 5: 01:00:23

Beyond the Bullshit: 01:19:35

Outro: 01:43:27

Resources

Acquired: Epic Systems (MyChart)

Bloomberg: Europe Rushes to Contain Price Fallout From War in Middle East

Foreign Policy: The Iran War Is Jeopardizing the Entire Global Economy

Forbes: World’s Billionaires List

The Cut: ‘My Friends Live in a Bubble. Should I Dump Them?’

NPR: Live Nation and Justice Department reach settlement in antitrust case

Reuters: Judge tells Live Nation, state AGs to negotiate potential deal

Straight White American Jesus Podcast

John Fugelsang: Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists

Margin Call

Inside Job

Forbes: AI Minted More Than 50 New Billionaires In 2025

Matt Taibbi: Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History

Kanopy

UNFTR Resources

The End of the American Experiment.

The Clinton Series.

Phone A Friend: Zohran Mamdani.

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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.

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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

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Not a soul on this planet knows what comes next in the war theater. Because that’s war. But we can anticipate what comes next for the U.S. and global economy, or at least game out certain scenarios. This isn’t just another discretionary “police action” on the other side of the world or a simple regime change. This war is wired directly into the global energy, food, and financial systems. But a proper analysis must acknowledge how the circumstances of the U.S. economy and our monetary and fiscal policies have changed. There is no direct antecedent to the situation in which we find ourselves, which makes the folly of this war all the more absurd. We didn’t just launch a war. We may have just pulled the fire alarm on the entire world economy.

Resources

John J. Mearsheimer: Big Trouble Ahead in Iran

U.S. Energy Information Administration: Amid regional conflict, the Strait of Hormuz remains critical oil chokepoint

EnergyNow: CHARTED: Oil Trade Through the Strait of Hormuz by Country

Reuters: Asia’s oil and LNG dependence on the Middle East

Institute for Economics & Peace: Economic Consequences of War on the U.S. Economy

Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity: Modern Money and the War Treasury

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland: Fiscal Dominance and US Monetary: 1940–1975

UNFTR Resources

Video: Iran War Could Wreck the Entire World Economy

Essay: The Iran War Could Wreck the Global Economy.

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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.

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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.