Best UNFTR Media Podcasts (2025)

1
The U.S. Dollar and 10 Year Treasury: Why Economists Are Freaking the F*ck Out. 20:34

9h ago20:34

20:34

Are there hidden market patterns that signal massive economic change? A weak dollar and rising yield on the ten year treasuries sent Wall Street into panic mode over fears that Trump was torching the global economy with his tariff wars. Since 1945 the U.S. dollar has been the bedrock of the global economy. Trump’s reckless behavior has allies and e…

1
Phone A Friend: Zohran Mamdani. Meet the Democratic Socialist Candidate Making Waves in NYC’s Mayoral Race. 28:59

6d ago28:59

28:59

We have a cool one for you today, a conversation with New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Currently, Mamdani is a member of the New York State Assembly. He’s a Democratic Socialist running in the Democratic primary against a pretty busy slate of contenders, and he’s polling second to former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who only recently enter…

1
Trump is Singlehandedly Manifesting Stagflation. 1:08:42

13d ago1:08:42

1:08:42

Probably the scariest, most dreaded term in economics is stagflation. Those who lived through the crisis in the 1970s can attest to this. In short, stagflation is defined as a period of low-to-no economic growth combined with high unemployment and high inflation. It’s a deadly recipe that took extraordinary measures to break the last time we experi…

1
Show Notes [The Climate Trust.] 1:27:41

27d ago1:27:41

1:27:41

Fresh off the heels of our fifth and final Non-Negotiables of the Left series, 99 and I spent some time in the studio reviewing feedback from the UNFTR audience. While I stomped my feet like a toddler, 99 was able to finally get me under control and a productive conversation ensued. The upshot is that the feedback was fairly muted, with most of you…

1
The Climate Trust: Non-Negotiable #5. 1:27:22

1M ago1:27:22

1:27:22

This is the final installment of our 5 Non-Negotiables of the Left series where we detail three short-term goals to take back the country and two long-term fights that must be waged for the sake of our democracy and the planet. This fifth entry speaks to the now back-burnered but ever-present threat to life on this planet: Climate change. This is t…

1
Trump Unhinged and Third Parties. 43:11

1M ago43:11

43:11

This week is an attempt to organize disparate content pieces from the past few weeks. Thoughts on third parties, Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress (which we mistakenly referred to as the State of the Union, oops!), notes on the final non-negotiables and random thoughts Max is working through. We’ve got a mashup of sorts on our hands …

1
Election Integrity: Getting Money Out of Politics. Non-Negotiable #4. 1:11:38

2M ago1:11:38

1:11:38

The movement to get money out of politics will take a very long time. I know people don’t want to hear that. My guess is, in the best case scenario, we’re looking at 20 years. Best case. If it makes you feel any better, the movement to get money into politics took 181 years so by that measure, two decades to unravel what took 181 to build isn’t all…

1
Show Notes [Misc.] 1:27:18

2M ago1:27:18

1:27:18

Max and 99 are back for Show Notes! They catch up with some movie talk and dive deep into the Non-Negotiables and hives. Enjoy! Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Housekeeping: 00:19:47 Emails: 00:32:20 Memberships: 01:23:32 Outro: 01:24:59 Resources Join us on Bluesky and Discord Ken Lefkowitz: Medicare For All: An Economic Rationale Abdul El-Sayed and Mica…

1
It Ends With Him: Trump Is the End of Neoliberalism. 39:13

2M ago39:13

39:13

Regardless of what happens next in the United States, the American experiment ends with Donald Trump. But Trump is a Trojan Horse. The real dismantling of our systems and norms is embodied by the man he ceded power to, the wealthiest person in the world. Elon Musk is the living avatar of the new corporate colonial era and there’s no going back to t…

1
Medicare For All: Non-Negotiable #3. 39:23

2M ago39:23

39:23

America’s healthcare system isn’t broken—it’s working exactly as designed. The problem is that it was designed to generate profits, not health outcomes. We spend roughly 20% of our GDP on healthcare, about double what other developed nations spend per capita, yet we have shorter life expectancy, higher infant mortality rates, and leave tens of mill…

1
Extraordinary Cruelty, Ordinary Policy: Immigration and Deportation Under Trump 2.0. 1:05:45

3M ago1:05:45

1:05:45

Given the turmoil and disgust surrounding Trump’s shock and awe deportation campaign, we thought it a good time to dig back into the immigration issue and update some of our findings from prior episodes. There’s no question Trump’s ICE is more brutal and seemingly indiscriminate, so we tried to put these efforts in context with prior administration…

1
Day One: Max Unfiltered. 26:37

3M ago26:37

26:37

We’re through the first two “non-negotiables” of the Left (Housing First and a Civilian Labor Corps) and I’m taking my sweet ass time with the third: Medicare for All. In the meantime, this week’s pod is a compilation of thoughts and writing I’ve done since the inauguration; officially another Max Unfiltered entry into our canon. Chapters Intro: 00…

1
Building a Civilian Labor Corps: Bracing for the AI Job Apocalypse. Non-Negotiable #2. 1:11:39

3M ago1:11:39

1:11:39

Today we’re tackling our second non-negotiable pillar of establishing a Civilian Labor Corps, and the timing couldn’t be more critical. You may have picked up on chatter in the wind about the impending job apocalypse at the hands of artificial intelligence (AI). I’m here to tell you that this is real. It is coming faster and more furiously than you…

1
Housing First: Non-Negotiable #1. 58:59

3M ago58:59

58:59

As is customary, HUD released its annual report on homelessness at the end of 2024. It revealed a startling year-over-year increase in homelessness among individuals and families in the United States. Among the devastating data, there were bright spots such as a decrease in homeless veterans. But the reporting and punditry surrounding the report wa…

1
The Online Left is Falling Apart: And That’s Okay. 20:45

4M ago20:45

20:45

Max goes back to finish the hat at the close of another year. 2025 has the potential to be one of the most disruptive in living memory. The rapid rollout of Project 2025 initiatives, fireworks spewing from the Trump distraction machine, the brewing onslaught of job losses due to AI and the continuing surge of far-right governments across the globe …

1
Show Notes Part Two: [Neoliberalism Borrowed From Lenin.] 1:32:42

4M ago1:32:42

1:32:42

This week is another extended Show Notes with Max and 99 who plow through listener feedback and talk extensively about repairing the left in the United States and what UNFTR’s role should be going forward. Next week we’ll release our final episode of the year that digs deeper into the fractured alliances on the online left and what it means for the…

1
The U.S. Economy: Have we reached a boiling point? 44:56

4M ago44:56

44:56

Are we heading into a recession? Did we ever really come out of the last one? Do market fundamentals matter anymore? How did Democrats miss so badly on the economy, leading to the re-election of Donald Trump? Is capitalism collapsing? It’s difficult to get a proper read of the U.S. economy. It’s a giant, complex juggernaut that both relies on globa…

1
“Russputin” and the Tsar: Russell Vought’s Plan To Destroy America. 42:43

4M ago42:43

42:43

In this week’s episode we identify the most dangerous man in America that no one is talking about, the tool he is going to use to dismantle government agencies, and what we can learn from three young Republicans who helped the GOP rise from the ashes of the Obama years. Get to know Russell “Russputin” Vought and how he believes he can override Nixo…

1
Show Notes: [Neoliberalism Borrowed From Lenin.] 1:32:26

4M ago1:32:26

1:32:26

Max and 99 have tons of Unf*cker feedback on the direction of the show and how to move forward as progressives. So much feedback that they had to split Show Notes into two parts! Stay tuned for next week's episode. Resources UNFTR on Bluesky Boney M.: Rasputin Reuters: Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at New York Thanksgiving parade American Pre…

1
Neoliberalism Borrowed From Lenin, Why Can’t We? 1:33:19

5M ago1:33:19

1:33:19

This week we go all the way back to the beginning to ruminate about what motivated us to start the podcast in the dark days of the pandemic. We open with a passage from Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains that struck a chord with Max. In it MacLean talks about the early days of the nihilistic libertarian society built by Charles Koch who was himsel…

1
2024 Election: Eulogy and Clarity. What is to be done? 44:22

5M ago44:22

44:22

Today we offer a grim and final eulogy to the Democratic Party and the 2024 election. The results were foretold by countless DNC missteps and missed opportunities that the Party remains reluctant to admit to. The next stage in the American experiment is going to be dire and regressive, leaving progressives with two options to move forward: Succumb …

1
Max & 99 Unfiltered: Final Thoughts Before the 2024 Election. 1:03:42

6M ago1:03:42

1:03:42

Max and 99 have a Manny-less conversation (Manny on assignment, don’t worry) about the election. It’s a sobering discussion about what’s at stake; they talk Democratic missteps along the way and ask whose idea it was to let Steve Bannon out of prison before the election. Resources Join the livestream on Wednesday, 11/6/24 at 8:00 PM EST. New York T…

1
The Energy Independence Myth. 21:07

6M ago21:07

21:07

This week we focus on a thin slice of the energy pie to disabuse the notion of “energy independence.” When politicians reference this concept they speak narrowly in terms of oil and gas production in the United States. As though if we could somehow pump enough of our own oil specifically, we could break our dependence on foreign nations, especially…

1
Un-Cooperative: Why Worker Co-Ops Don’t Work in America. 40:19

6M ago40:19

40:19

Worker cooperatives are often viewed as part of the solution to beating back capitalism. Yet there are more than 33 million small businesses in the U.S. and less than a thousand worker co-operatives. This week’s episode looks at the different co-op models and the barriers to the growth and success of worker cooperatives in the U.S. as opposed to Eu…

1
Unf*cking Flashback: The American Propaganda Machine. 25:50

6M ago25:50

25:50

While Max puts the finishing touches on the forthcoming Worker Cooperative episode, we’re replaying an oldie but a goodie called The American Propaganda Machine. We chose this as a complement to our recent discussions surrounding news literacy. We think it holds up pretty well, actually. -- On this episode of Unf*cking the Republic we do a deep div…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

UNFTR Media Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Unf*cking The Republic

UNFTR Media

1
The U.S. Dollar and 10 Year Treasury: Why Economists Are Freaking the F*ck Out. 20:34

1
Phone A Friend: Zohran Mamdani. Meet the Democratic Socialist Candidate Making Waves in NYC’s Mayoral Race. 28:59

1
Trump is Singlehandedly Manifesting Stagflation. 1:08:42

1
Show Notes [The Climate Trust.] 1:27:41

1
The Climate Trust: Non-Negotiable #5. 1:27:22

1
Trump Unhinged and Third Parties. 43:11

1
Election Integrity: Getting Money Out of Politics. Non-Negotiable #4. 1:11:38

1
Show Notes [Misc.] 1:27:18

1
It Ends With Him: Trump Is the End of Neoliberalism. 39:13

1
Medicare For All: Non-Negotiable #3. 39:23

1
Extraordinary Cruelty, Ordinary Policy: Immigration and Deportation Under Trump 2.0. 1:05:45

1
Day One: Max Unfiltered. 26:37

1
Building a Civilian Labor Corps: Bracing for the AI Job Apocalypse. Non-Negotiable #2. 1:11:39

1
Housing First: Non-Negotiable #1. 58:59

1
The Online Left is Falling Apart: And That’s Okay. 20:45

1
Show Notes Part Two: [Neoliberalism Borrowed From Lenin.] 1:32:42

1
The U.S. Economy: Have we reached a boiling point? 44:56

1
“Russputin” and the Tsar: Russell Vought’s Plan To Destroy America. 42:43

1
Show Notes: [Neoliberalism Borrowed From Lenin.] 1:32:26

1
Neoliberalism Borrowed From Lenin, Why Can’t We? 1:33:19

1
2024 Election: Eulogy and Clarity. What is to be done? 44:22

1
Max & 99 Unfiltered: Final Thoughts Before the 2024 Election. 1:03:42

1
The Energy Independence Myth. 21:07

1
Un-Cooperative: Why Worker Co-Ops Don’t Work in America. 40:19

1
Unf*cking Flashback: The American Propaganda Machine. 25:50

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