In Part 1 of Amazon, the Unfulfillment Company, we reviewed Amazon’s rise from online bookseller to third largest company on the planet and well on its way to number one. The extreme focus on the customer is the centerpiece of founder Jeff Bezos’s philosophy and while it has increased consumerism and driven down prices on several categories of goods and services, it’s had big ripple effects in the wider economy and the labor market. Today’s episode picks up where we left off to examine the compa...
Jun 18, 2022•1 hr 2 min
In today's Show Notes minisode we continue to celebrate #FMF Day by reading Unf*cker’s scathing comments towards ‘ol Milty, continue to shit on Amazon (and even get some Elon digs in) and Manny regales us with some Newark/Atlanta stories. Listen to BONUS: Happy F*ck Milton Friedman Day. Listen to Amazon (Part 1). Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:02:32 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:28:03 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:34:37 Instagram Shout Outs: 00:36:25 Substack Shout Outs: 00:41:12 Buy Me A Coffee Donatio...
Jun 15, 2022•51 min
The first of a two part series on Amazon. In many ways, Amazon is the logical extension of America’s perverted version of neoliberal capitalism. The self-described libertarian founder Jeff Bezos created a company with nearly 100% brand recognition that has permeated our daily lives in obvious ways and some not so obvious ways. In Part 1 we examine Amazon’s relationship with its hometown of Seattle, its obsessive focus on the customer to the exclusion of all else and how it built its power base i...
Jun 12, 2022•59 min
Manny Faces joins Max and 99 in studio for the first time ever. The three celebrate the dastardly legacy of Milton Friedman, reflect on the growth and evolution of the podcast and each reveal something new about themselves. It's a quick and breezy hang. Won't you join in? #FMF Listen to the original F*ck Milton Friedman episode. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us onl...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 18 min
In today's Show Notes minisode Max rides solo and struggles to understand how emails or social media work. Okay, it wasn't that bad. Max teases some new features that are coming later this summer, gets pumped up for Fuck Milton Friedman day, and has some fun chats with (to?) the listeners about the last few episodes. Listen to Congressional Summer School. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:09:21 Social Shout Outs: 00:45:46 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 00:54:49 Outro: 00:55:25 Resour...
Jun 08, 2022•59 min
In today’s Quickie we’re going to look at three different bills or groupings of bills that represent the array of legislation that exists. Something old, something big and something new. At the end I’ll run through several bills that should be on everyone’s radar and we’ll link some helpful ways to advocate in show notes and on Substack. In terms of structure, I’ll provide a summary of the bill, tell you who’s behind it and who’s not, where it stands, what it does, what it theoretically costs an...
Jun 04, 2022•52 min
In today's Show Notes minisode we chat a lot about making change, how to cope with our current political system, and then end up fried from the 900 degree heat in the studio. Listen to Topical Cream 5: The School Shooting Script Listen to Obsession Over Recession Depression. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:02:19 Facebook Shout Outs: 01:23:52 Twitter Shout Outs: 01:24:54 Instagram Shout Outs: 01:31:43 Substack Shout Outs: 01:33:18 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:37:29 Reviews: 01:...
Jun 02, 2022•1 hr 44 min
We just came through the eighth “technical” recession over the past 50 years and many predict that another is around the corner. Depending upon who you believe we might already be in one, we are about to drop off a cliff or it’s only smooth sailing ahead. Today we talk about how to measure a recession, the different character of prior downturns and why it doesn’t really fucking matter to most of us. Chapters Intro: 00:00:51 Prologue: 00:01:48 Chapter One: Recessions Defined: 00:05:08 Chapter Two...
May 28, 2022•1 hr 8 min
It’s the same old script. Mass shooting occurs. Thoughts and prayers fly. Declarations are made. Fingers point. There’s something more insidious at play in this nation than just easy access to weapons and ammunition. Our propensity toward gun violence is indicative of a deeper illness. Like many difficult issues, it’s never just one thing but a confluence of deadly issues that plague our country. To fight for the “soul of the nation,” one has to first ask whether we ever had one to begin with. R...
May 27, 2022•13 min
In today's Show Notes minisode we chat about the free market/student debt, hear from John Kane about Deb Haaland’s residential school report, and share a bunch of incredible insights from the most intelligent group of people: our Unf*ckers. Listen to Topical Cream 4: Boarding Schools From Hell. Listen to Student Debt: Hey Boomer, STFU. Chapters Intro: 00:00:46 Emails: 00:04:10 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:47:13 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:58:20 Instagram Shout Outs: 01:23:40 Substack Shout Outs: 01:25:01 ...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 31 min
Various sources report that the Biden Administration is set to release its plan to deal with student indebtedness. Cancellation? Forgiveness? Refinance? Today’s episode covers the spirited debate surrounding student loan forgiveness and the structural issues that plague the American system of higher education. We cover the history of student loans and how perverse incentives, corporate greed and colleges with endless appetites for growth created a juggernaut of debt and bureaucracy no amount of ...
May 21, 2022•1 hr 11 min
In today's Show Notes minisode Max and 99 sort out some beef (tofu? #PlantF*cker), chat about our coffee partners on the Poospatuck Reservation, and somehow touch on every hot button issue under the sun. Listen to Convention of States. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:05:06 Facebook Shout Outs: 01:10:47 Twitter Shout Outs: 01:117:50 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:16:59 Reviews: 01:19:17 Outro: 01:19:40 Resources The David McWilliams Podcast: Scandinavian Models Opening Arguments ...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Imagine for a moment a breaking news story that more than 500 bodies of white children were found buried in unmarked graves at some of the most prestigious boarding schools in New England…That we discovered a federal plot to steal children, place them in forced labor camps within these schools and lie about their whereabouts when they died. And that the practice was in existence as recently as the 1960s. It would be fucking chaos. And rightly so. This exact scenario unfolded last week with the r...
May 18, 2022•14 min
For decades, right wing actors have been steadily tearing apart critical protections of our democracy and stacking the deck in their favor. Civil rights and liberties that were hard fought and then eventually assumed have slowly disappeared. Voting rights. Privacy. Worker projections. Economic mobility. And soon, as we now know, people’s rights to their own bodies. Nothing happens overnight and the process has been slow, steady and painful because the right wing in America is deliberate, organiz...
May 14, 2022•59 min
In today's Show Notes minisode we review Topical Cream + Religious Left feedback, work through some more Russia/Ukraine issues and Max tangents about the stock market for a bit (a while). Listen to Topical Cream: The End of Roe v. Wade Listen to Where is the Religious Left? Chapters Intro: 00:00:19 Emails: 00:07:04 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:49:55 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:57:12 Instagram Shout Outs: 01:00:34 Substack Shout Outs: 01:02:44 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:05:16 Reviews: 01:1...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Since the Civil War, white Christians in this country have swung wildly between advancing a social doctrine of equality and promoting outright racism, nationalism and hatred of the poor. Since the Eisenhower years, however, Christians of all stripes have decidedly split along similar fault lines to our politics. While secularists and the so-called religious left represent the majority of Americans, the fervent white Christian nationalist wing of the country seems to be fully in control of the na...
May 07, 2022•1 hr 12 min
They’ve done it. Well, they’re about to. As much as we all knew this was coming it’s still stunning. Today’s Topical Cream presses the obvious point that we live under the tyranny of the minority. The racist, white nationalist, right-wing, Christian fucking minority that elected two illegitimate Presidents who appointed the sitting majority of the Supreme fucking Court. Max and 99 trade off thoughts on the SCOTUS leak, the awful minority and the feckless democrats elected to “protect” our intere...
May 05, 2022•14 min
In today's Show Notes minisode, we review some Dem Bums episode feedback (as well as some leftover Military Film Complex feedback), discuss how the Democratic Party sucks ~writ large~ and Max ages himself by talking about something called B. J. and the Bear. Listen to the main episode accompaniment here Chapters A Quick Note: 00:0:21 Intro: 00:01:06 Emails: 00:10:24 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:38:41 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:42:42 Instagram Shout Outs: 00:51:44 Substack Shout Outs: 00:52:10 Buy Me A Co...
May 04, 2022•1 hr 10 min
You can’t do the big things if you can’t do the little things. A friend of mine used to say this all the time. And it reminds me of the Democratic Party - a party that can’t seem to move the needle on the big, meaningful stuff because they’re always fighting about procedural issues that prevent the nation from moving forward. Has the right wing lost its fucking mind in this country? Sure. But they’re not the reason democrats are so dysfunctional. The Democratic Party is riddled with self-inflict...
Apr 30, 2022•37 min
The second installment of topical cream peers into the petty world of the billionaire class and the purchase of Twitter by racist enabler and inventor of nothing Elon Musk. Resources Good Jobs First: Los Angeles Times Stirs Debate: Elon Musk’s Use of Subsidies at Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity The New York Times: Judge reduces $137 million penalty against Tesla over factory racism. Time: How Elon Musk Built His Fortune—And Became the Richest Private Citizen in the World The Wrap: Elon Musk Dragged...
Apr 28, 2022•14 min
In today's Show Notes minisode, we review some Military Film Complex episode feedback, discuss progressive candidate suggestions from Unf*ckers, and talk about the genius of Tom McGovern! Listen to the main episode accompaniment here Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:03:36 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:34:22 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:40:39 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:04:38 Outro: 01:15:29 Resources Kristin Kobes Du Mez: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and ...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Trendsetter or follower? Hollywood has made over 5,000 war films in the past 100 years. Today’s episode probes whether Hollywood has been complicit in building a culture of warmongering and nationalism, whether inadvertently or by design. With a little help from our friend Krin - who has authored three books on Hollywood - and a handful of other resources, we look back over a few different eras in Hollywood and try to figure out whether the industry is holding up a mirror or influencing our feel...
Apr 23, 2022•1 hr 19 min
Welcome to Topical Cream , a new, periodic UNFTR segment with an appropriately cringeworthy title for fuckery in the news. Our aim with these segments is to tackle more timely and newsworthy events that either relate to previous Unf*cking narratives or to set up future episodes. Our inaugural Cream finds us back in the world of crude oil and commodities with the recent capitulation on the part of the Biden administration to the oil and gas industry. Resources OilPrice.com: Oil Price Charts CNBC:...
Apr 21, 2022•10 min
In today's Show Notes minisode, we continue our conversation about the midterm/primary candidates (with special insight from Manny Faces), talk unf*cking cannabis and hear some McFleshman’s beer feedback! Listen to the main episode accompaniment here Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:03:20 Twitter Shout Outs: 01:03:48 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:06:26 Reviews: 01:09:48 Outro: 01:13:21 Resources Analyze Phish Podcast Nathan Rabin: You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me: Phish, ...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Dems are already in the fetal position crying over races they have yet to lose and blaming progressives for losing them. Fuck that. Today we look at three upcoming races (two Senate, one House) that demonstrate how much the landscape has changed for progressives and the importance of primaries. The Democratic establishment is lining up against very capable progressive candidates in key races in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Texas. Two of these races are messy, but hold great promise for the balanc...
Apr 16, 2022•53 min
In today's Show Notes minisode, we hear a bit more from John Kane of Let's Talk Native, have a lengthy conversation about how to deal with Trump-supporting parents, and read Bobby McD's new inscription for the Statue of Liberty. Listen to the main episode accompaniment here Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:03:33 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:51:16 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:57:46 Instagram Shout Outs: 01:01:02 Substack Shout Outs: 01:01:52 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:03:39 Lady Liberty'...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 9 min
A run-of-the-mill, one-day news story about a billionaire holding a city hostage over a sports team and a new stadium buried the lede on the dark underbelly of Native American relations with the U.S. government. New York State agreed to finance a significant chunk of the $1.4 billion stadium for the Buffalo Bills, an NFL team owned by a billionaire worth 5.5x that amount. A deal done almost entirely behind closed doors. Beyond the myriad conflicts of interest within the governor’s office is the ...
Apr 09, 2022•1 hr 10 min
In today's Show Notes minisode, Max abandons 99 and delirium takes hold as she struggles to do show notes by herself. Listen to the main episode accompaniment here Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:01:13 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:10:48 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:10:59 Instagram Shout Outs: 00:13:53 Substack Shout Outs: 00:16:24 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 00:38:00 Reviews: 00:41:29 Outro: 00:20:41 Resources UNFTR Quickie: The World in Numbers Dr. James E. Hansen Newsletter TED Radio Hou...
Apr 06, 2022•22 min
The time has come to honor our Down Under F*ckers who have been supporting UNFTR since we launched. As we’ve done in prior shows about other countries, we attempt to explain the Australian political system, provide an overview of key issues and draw parallels between our experiences. Basically, a rough translation of Aussie politics for American listeners that only scratches the surface of this incredible nation. There’s an election coming up and several hot button issues facing the Australian p...
Apr 02, 2022•1 hr 5 min
In today's Show Notes minisode, we shit on Clinton, discuss the disparity of letting some immigrants into the country and unveil a dark secret from Max's past. Listen to the main episode accompaniment here Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Previous Episode Update: 00:02:48 UNFTR Coffee Chat: 00:08:30 Emails: 00:11:51 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:27:50 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:31:13 Instagram Shout Outs: 00:36:16 Substack Shout Outs: 00:36:28 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 00:38:00 Reviews: 00:41:29 Ou...
Mar 30, 2022•44 min
