Listen Now

We’ve all heard of the great divide. The most dysfunctional Congress ever. The end of civility! There’s an impression that nothing passes Congress with bipartisan support anymore. That every piece of legislation has to pass along party lines, setting us up for bloodsport events each and every fucking election cycle. There’s a lot of truth to this. And yet, each year thousands of bills and resolutions are introduced and hundreds are eventually signed into law. We define ourselves along partisan lines, but perhaps we should look more closely at what bipartisan efforts say about America.  Visit the episode's accompanying site page. Chapters Intro: 00:00:10 Bill Primer: 00:05:22 Rule One: Protect the “free” market at all costs. 00:12:48 Coffee Break: 00:20:06 Rule Two: Protect the war machine. Even if we don’t have our own war. 00:21:36 Rule Three: Protect the war machine. In case you want to start a war.  00:29:02 Post Show Musings: 00:31:54 Outro: 00:36:30 Resources GovTrack: S. 1404: Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act Ghost Army Legacy Project: The story of The Ghost Army in a nutshell GovTrack: H.R. 1448: PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act GovTrack: H.R. 8351: Formula Act GovTrack: H.R. 2954: Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 Committee On Ways And Means, House Of Representatives Report: Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 CNBC: 41% of Americans say it’s ‘going to take a miracle’ to be ready for retirement, report finds CNBC: Some retirees get by on just Social Security. Experts disagree on how many Congress.gov: 1st Session S. 1770  GovTrack: S. 3522: Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 ISS PSC Report: African conflicts to watch in 2022 ISS: Inclusive national dialogue is a priority for Ethiopia ISS: Will this week’s AU mission to CAR deliver a change in strategy? ISS: The clock is ticking on South Sudan’s transition ISS: South Sudan’s transitional government: realities, challenges and opportunities GovTrack: S. 1605: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 U.S. Department of Defense: The Department of Defense Releases the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Budget Politico Magazine: Where in the World Is the U.S. Military? UNFTR Episode Resources Procedural F*ckery: Quirks of our “Democracy.” The Beatification of Ronald Reagan. Immigration Nation: A Crisis of Our Own Design. Building the Climate Industrial Complex: Strange Bedfellows, Wildfires and Heat Waves. Priorities: War, Wealth and Welfare. -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Show Notes, Max and 99 talk about the FCC, bagpipes and parkways. And nothing else. (Okay, obviously a lie. But tune in to find out what else is discussed!) Listen to Episode 75: The FCC. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Housekeeping: 00:30:00 Emails: 00:15:25 Twitter Shout Outs: 01:13:12 Substack Shout Outs: 01:19:20 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:25:33 Reviews: 01:28:07 Outro: 01:28:34 Resources Summer Lee Mandela Barnes The Rewatchables: Boogie Nights Last Podcast On The Left: Mormonism Series and Black Death Series The Rewatchables: Miami Vice Kentucky Candidate Charles Booker Stephanie Kelton: The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy Mises Institute: A Review of Stephanie Kelton’s The Deficit Myth The New York Times: California to Ban the Sale of New Gasoline Cars Peter Shapiro: The Music Never Stops: What Putting on 10,000 Shows Has Taught Me about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Magic Danny Meyer: Setting the Table News Beat Podcast: MMIWG2S: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls & Two-Spirit People The War on Cars Podcast WebMD: Under 2% of Eligible Have Gotten Newest Booster Shot NPR: CDC recommends new booster shots to fight omicron UNFTR Sticker Request -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we finally heed the call to Unf*ck the Federal Communications Commission (FCC.) We don’t get all the way there (it’s been around since 1934) but we manage to tackle the fairness doctrine, which was intended to provide balance and equal time in broadcasting and was repealed in 1987. Many credit this Reagan-era move as the beginning of the end of civility, leading to the divide in the nation today. But, of course, the story behind the doctrine is far more nuanced. We review a history of the FCC, its limitations and whether or not the fairness doctrine ever really had a place in America given the natural tension with the First Amendment. Visit the episode's accompanying site page. Chapters Intro: 00:03:53 Chapter One: What is the FCC and why should we give a shit? 00:04:51 Chapter Two: To be fair, it was never really a doctrine. 00:13:35 Chapter Three: Fairness in the eye of the withholder. 00:24:57 Chapter Four: Bring it home, Max. 00:33:27 Post Show Musings: 00:39:36 Book Love: 00:40:22 Outro: 00:49:35 Resources FCC Website Congressional Quarterly: Broadcasting Deregulation UNFTR Episode Resources Manufacturing Dissent: How We Let an Aussie Destroy the U.S. The Economics of Racism: Bootstraps, Black Banks and Redlining. Book Love Steven J. Simmons: The Fairness Doctrine and the Media Brian J. Karem: Free the Press: The Death of American Journalism and How to Revive It Ken Auletta: Backstory: Inside the Business of News Bernard Harcourt: The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order -- 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 online at unftr.com. Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565 Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written by free speech and distributed by shut the fuck up. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Show Notes, Max and 99 talk about the future of the enablers “series,” how people like Larry Fink of BlackRock fit into the overall UNFTR ecosystem and how that relates to ESGs + the billionaire class. Plus, there’s some irrelevant movie talk, and reminders to support the Fall Raisers: Friends, Funds and Hell. Listen to Episode 74: BlackRock: The Devil's Banker. Do as I say, not as I do. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Housekeeping: 00:02:00 Emails: 00:07:43 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:35:45 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:36:15 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 00:45:32 Outro: 01:02:12 Resources Unf*cker Artist Submission Form Summer Lee Mandela Barnes Christopher Leonard: Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America to Collections Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right to Collections UNFTR Episodes: Libertarians Are Exhausting (Part 1 and Part 2) Tom McGovern on TikTok, Youtube, Instagram and Twitter News Beat Podcast: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Big Lie UNFTR Episode: The Problem with Conscious Capitalism: ESG, SRI and FMF. Bloomberg: Patagonia Billionaire Who Gave Up Company Skirts $700 Million Tax Hit Ben Sheehan on Instagram and Twitter Ben Sheehan: OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say?: A Non-Boring Guide to How Our Democracy Is Supposed to Work -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Larry Fink is one of the most influential people on the planet. His firm BlackRock mints money. Billions of dollars a year. Their risk management platform handles more than $10 trillion a year. He helped guide the country out of the financial crisis in 2009 and positioned his company to grow unfettered by the very regulatory authorities he advised at the time. He’s by all accounts funny, affable, competitive and compassionate. BlackRock is at the center of a storm in conservative media for pushing companies too hard toward sustainability. That he’s too “woke.” Liberals think he’s behind the housing crisis. Conspiracy theorists believe he’s in the pocket of the Chinese government. The real story of BlackRock is bigger, more mundane and just as terrifying.  Visit the episode's accompanying site page. Chapters BlackRock Disclaimer: 00:00:05 Intro: 00:02:24 Chapter One: Bank or no bank? You decide. 00:05:31 Chapter Two: Birth of a giant. 00:13:12 Chapter Three: Just how big is BlackRock? 00:24:20 Chapter Four: The ESG Hullabaloo. 00:31:46 Chapter Five: Bring it home, Max. 00:40:11 Post Show Musings: 00:50:48 Outro: 01:09:20 Resources Vanity Fair: Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow BlackRock: 2021 Annual Report Policy Tensor: Seeing Like BlackRock Insider: Here are 9 fascinating facts to know about BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager Bloomberg: Biden Ties to BlackRock Deepen With Latest Treasury Hire Wall Street Journal: One Firm Getting What It Wants in Washington: BlackRock OpenSecrets: BlackRock Inc Office of Financial Research: Asset Management and Financial Stability, September 2013 Bloomberg: In Fink We Trust: BlackRock Is Now ‘Fourth Branch of Government’ BlackRock: Sustainable investing at BlackRock Banking On Climate Change: The Worst Banks Since the Paris Agreement The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: BlackRock Tells Oil Regulator: Ignore Our CEO’s Climate Pledges Florida State Board of Administration: August 23, 2022 Meeting Politico: Wall Street opens its checkbook for Ron DeSantis Sierra Club: Maine becomes the first state to pass law to divest from fossil fuels Morgan Stanley Institute For Sustainable Investing: Sustainable Reality BlackRock: BlackRock and housing: Setting the record straight The Atlantic: BlackRock Is Not Ruining the U.S. Housing Market Securities and Exchange Commission: Sallie Mae Proxy Statement Pensions & Investments: Nestle moves pension assets to BlackRock as it reorganizes internal management unit CNN Business: Nestle SA Investopedia: The Top 5 British Petroleum (BP) Shareholders CNN Business: Walmart Inc Fintel: BlackRock Inc. ownership in MCD / Mcdonald's Corp Bloomberg Markets and Finance: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on Inflation, ESG Investing UNFTR Episode Resources Student Debt. The Problem with Conscious Capitalism. Book Love David Carey and John E. Morris: King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone -- 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 online at unftr.com. Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565 Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written by BlackRock. Or is it Blackstone? And hosted by Blackstone. Or is it BlackRock? Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Show Notes, Max and 99 discuss the conclusion of the three part Healthcare series, share plans to support two progressive candidates in the upcoming election, and get hyped for the Fall Raisers: Friend, Fund, and Hell. Listen to Episode 73: Hospitals and Healthcare: From Sanatoriums for the Indigent to Citadels of the Elite. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Housekeeping: 00:07:54 Emails: 00:18:57 Facebook Shout Outs: 00:41:06 Twitter Shout Outs: 00:41:19 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 00:42:14 Reviews: 00:49:25 Outro: 00:49:52 Resources Summer Lee Mandela Barnes Unf*ckers Facebook Group ContraPoints Youtube F.D Signifier Youtube Some More News Youtube News Beat Podcast: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Big Lie -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The third and final installment of our American Healthcare series examines the evolution of the American hospital system. There are more than 6,000 hospitals in the United States and several distinctions among them. After a quick recap of the first two episodes, we look primarily at the peculiar designation of nonprofit hospitals, their relationship to practitioners and their role in driving costs in the system. We conclude the series with a few hot takes from medical professionals, some basic proposals to improve coverage and care and ask what it would take to move toward Medicare for All. Chapters Intro: 00:01:59 Chapter One: What’s a Hospital? 00:13:59 Chapter Two: For-Profit and Nonprofit Hospitals. Two sides of the same damn coin. 00:17:56 Chapter Three: Turning Doctors into Business People. 00:31:07 Chapter Four: Bring it home, Max. 00:36:09 Post Show Musings: 00:50:39 Book Love: 01:10:43 Outro: 01:11:11 Resources OECD.stat: Health Care Resources: Hospitals EOS Surfaces: Types of Hospitals in the US AAPC: What Are Relative Value Units (RVUs)? American Hospital Association: Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals, 2022 Becker’s Hospital Review: 82 Physician-Owned Hospitals to Know AMA Journal of Ethics: Physician-Owned Hospitals and Self-Referral NPR’s Planet Money: How Non-Profit Hospitals Are Driving Up The Cost Of Health Care LWW Journals: The Growing Executive-Physician Wage Gap in Major US Nonprofit Hospitals and Burden of Nonclinical Workers on the US Healthcare System Weatherby Healthcare: Physician salary report 2022: Physician income rising again The New York Times: Why Are Nonprofit Hospitals So Highly Profitable? Hub’s List: A data-based biweekly newsletter of medical fun facts The New England Journal of Medicine: Practicing Medicine in the New Business Climate The New England Journal of Medicine: Is Quality Improvement Improving Quality? A View from the Doctor's Office CNN: 2 charts that show just how old this Congress actually is The Commonwealth Fund: International Health Care System Profiles- France Germany Visa: Health Insurance in Germany- The German Healthcare System Congress.gov: H.R.1 For the People Act NASHP: Can We Please Stop Fixating on Hospital Chargemasters? KHN: Nixon’s Plan For Health Reform, In His Own Words CBO: Estimated Budgetary Effects of Title I, Committee on Finance, of H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 The Lever: Where Did The Public Option Go? UNFTR Episode Resources U.S. Healthcare. This Healthcare is Killing Us. Student Debt. Book Love Paul Starr: The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry Steven Brill: America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System Nelson Lichtenstein: State of the Union: A Century of American Labor Mark Vonnegut: The Heart of Caring: A Life in Pediatrics -- 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 online at unftr.com. Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565 Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written by pre-existing conditions and hosted by declining mortality rates. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Show Notes, Max and 99 continue to discuss the healthcare industry—this time with insight from some of the international Unf*ckers. Plus, 99 has the sniffles and sounds like Squidward. And, as always, (somehow) there’s singing. Enjoy! Listen to Episode 72: This Healthcare is Killing Us: The perpetual cycle of money madness. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:06:35 Twitter Shout Outs: 01:18:01 Instagram Shout Outs: 01:18:01 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:50:47 Reviews: 01:23:13 Outro: 01:24:27 Resources UNFTR Artist Submission Unf*ckers Facebook Group Media Roots Podcast: Alex Jones Part 1 and Part 2 IndoctriNation Podcast Amanda Montell: Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism UNFTR Episode: Global Order of Money UNFTR Episode: Global Order of Power UNFTR Episode: America Inc. Knudsen in the news -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're re-releasing our Labor Union episode in honor of Labor Day. For Unf*ckers outside of the United States, this is the day government set aside as a token of appreciation to the labor movement for eight hour days, weekends, anti-child labor laws, protection from discrimination and more. (In reality, it was a consolation prize after Grover Cleveland jailed Eugene Debs and sent federal troops to beat the shit out of Pullman railcar workers on strike.) We celebrate this glorious day by giving members of the PMC a holiday to shop at stores run by the working poor. -- From Pullman and Carnegie to Kellogg's and the PRO Act, this week we unf*ck the labor movement in the United States. No single episode can possibly do labor justice but we give it our best shot. The episode includes a blow-by-blow analysis of a recent interview with the CEO of Kellogg's to translate Wall Street speak for “how to fuck workers and influence inflation.” And we rip off a few Milton references to exercise our #FMF muscle. Chapters Intro: 00:00:42 Segment 1: 00:02:11 Segment 2: 00:04:25 Segment 3: 00:12:18 Segment 4: 00:17:46 Segment 5: 00:21:29 Segment 6: 00:28:00 Segment 7: 00:30:20 Segment 8: 00:41:22 Show Notes: 00:52:15 Book Love: 00:57:17 Pod Love: 00:58:02 Emails + Shoutouts: 00:58:45 Outro: 01:10:42 Resources American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) The New York Times: Starbucks workers at a Buffalo store unionize in a big symbolic win for labor Kellogg Company: Investor Relations The Nation: Striking Kellogg’s Workers Need the PRO Act U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics: Work Stoppages OECD: Trade Union Dataset  U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics: Union Members — 2020 Economic History Association: Labor Unions in the United States History of Recessions in U.S. Unionization rates by industry in the United States, 1880-2000 More Perfect Union: Kellogg's Factory Working Conditions Media Matters: Joe Rogan Wrapped: A year of COVID-19 misinformation, right-wing myths, and anti-trans rhetoric Book Love Philip Dray: There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America Nelson Lichtenstein: State of the Union: A Century of American Labor Kurt Andersen: Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America Joseph Stiglitz: People, Power and Profits Robert Shiller: Narrative Economics Pod Love Economic Update with Professor Richard Wolff: S11 E47 -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Eugene Debs and distributed by the Pinkertons. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first installment of our healthcare series encapsulated the magnitude of the industry that accounts for 20% of our nation’s GDP and how efforts to pursue universal healthcare were scuttled over the years. Today’s episode examines the role of private insurance in our system and details how Obamacare came to life with little discussion around a public option or the possibility of Medicare for All.  Chapters Intro: 00:01:58 Chapter One: Understanding the scope of healthcare. 00:03:12 Chapter Two: The Insurance Class System: 00:16:29 Chapter Three: Making the Sausage: 00:26:32 Post Show Musings: 00:46:27 Outro: 00:51:50 Resources The New York Times: U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Again in ‘Historic’ Setback Health System Tracker: How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries? The Atlantic: Did a Conservative Think Tank Really Invent the Individual Mandate? The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: The Burden of Medical Debt: Results from the Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times  UnitedHealth Group: Annual Report Humana: 2021 Annual Report Anthem, Inc: Annual Report National Association of Insurance Commissioners: U.S. Health Insurance Industry Analysis Report  Book Love Paul Starr: The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry Steven Brill: America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System -- 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 online at unftr.com. Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565 Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written by means and hosted by regression analyses. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Show Notes, Max and 99 continue talking about the student debt announcement and its impact, address more feedback from the healthcare episode, plus feedback from the last show notes re: Big Pharma, natural medicine and vaccines. Listen to Topical Cream 6: Biden’s Big Student Debt Announcement. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:09:22 Facebook Shout Outs: 01:37:40 Twitter Shout Outs: 01:45:19 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:50:47 Outro: 01:51:16 Resources UNFTR Merch Store Trust Me Podcast: Virginia Heffernan: Edge, Jeffrey Epstein, & the Intellectual Dark Web Conspirituality Podcast Maintenance Phase Podcast Unf*ckers Facebook Group UNFTR Episodes: Libertarians Are Exhausting Part One and Part Two. UNFTR Episodes: Corporate (Ir)Responsibility Part One and Part Two. UNFTR Episodes: F*ck Milton Friedman. ProPublica: How a Secretive Billionaire Handed His Fortune to the Architect of the Right-Wing Takeover of the Courts The Intercept: Joe Biden’s Role In Creating The Student Debt Crisis Stretches Back To The 1970s SocialMarketing.org: Generations X,Y, Z and the Others -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lily Geismer wrote an incredible book called Left Behind. Unf*ckers who listened to our three part series on the Clinton years are familiar with it and know how important it was to framing this series. We had some follow up thoughts and questions for this esteemed author and are thrilled she obliged. Max and Lily have a wide ranging conversation about her book and the long tail effect of Clinton’s brand of neoliberalism in the second installment of Phone a Friend. Resources UNFTR Episode: The Clinton Years (Parts One, Two, and Three) Lily Geismer: Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality Lily Geismer: Don’t Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party Nathan J. Robinson: Superpredator: Bill Clinton’s Use and Abuse of Black America UNFTR Episode: The Economics of Racism: Bootstraps, Black Banks and Redlining Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Mehrsa Baradaran: The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap Richard Rothstein: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Gary Gerstle: The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era Lily on Twitter -- 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 online at unftr.com. Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565 Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written by Max and hosted by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s here! It’s finally here! Today we review our predictions for student debt relief and square them with Biden’s proposed plan. There’s a lot to like about the announcement, several unanswered questions and some gaping holes in the plan going forward. Max breaks down the politics, the details and biggest misses of the Biden student debt relief plan and why it’s in danger of being PITOTWIU. Resources The Balance: How Much Trump's Tax Cuts Cost the Government World Population Review: Average Family Income 2022 PBS NewsHour: President Biden announces decision on student debt forgiveness Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget: New Student Debt Changes Will Cost Half a Trillion Dollars Penn Wharton Budget Model: The Biden Student Loan Forgiveness Plan: Budgetary Costs and Distributional Impact Josh Mitchell: The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe UNFTR Episode Resources Student Debt. Modern Monetary Theory. Corporate (Ir)Responsibility (Part I) and (Part II). -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s Show Notes Max and 99 talk for 30 hours…Okay, exaggeration. But they talk for a long while, because there’s a lot of U.S. healthcare feedback to run through, as the Unf*ckers are so smart and dedicated (as usual). All hail Nettie. Listen to U.S. Healthcare. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 UNFTR Healthcare Update: 00:03:13 Emails: 00:08:13 Facebook Shout Outs: 01:57:12 Twitter Shout Outs: 02:02:30 Instagram Shout Outs: 02:05:05 Substack: 02:06:57 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 02:10:34 Reviews: 02:14:42 Resources Nettie's Fund Ron DeSantis Standing Maintenance Phase Podcast      -Weight Watchers      -Super Size Me      -Jordan Peterson Part 1 and Part 2 Unf*cker-run Facebook Group Majority Report with John Abramson Nathan J. Robinson: The Intellectual We Deserve An Arm and a Leg Podcast Elisabeth Rosenthal: An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back UNFTR Artists -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A note for one of our original Unf*ckers. Sending our love, light, and thank yous to Nettie for being the patron saint of this show, and making us all better. If you're able, please consider donating to Nettie's fund: www.facebook.com/donate/1765854323761747/2174011309435518. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we’re doing some level setting on healthcare in the U.S.—a long requested topic. We navigate this unf*cking based on direct queries from the Unf*ckers, creating a baseline that helps establish a foundation for related features down the road and an understanding of the moving parts and shared language for the challenges we face. Stay tuned, as next week we’re going to delve deep into the Affordable Care Act. Chapters Intro: 00:01:28 Chapter One: 00:02:40 Chapter Two: 00:09:31 Chapter Three: 00:18:32 Chapter Four: 00:32:54 Post Show Musings: 00:38:54 Book Love: 00:46:12 Pod Love: 00:48:03 Outro: 01:12:14 Resources The New York Times: Big Changes Are Coming for Health Care Costs Health System Tracker: National Health Spending Explorer GovTrack: H.R. 5376: Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 CMS.gov: NHE Fact Sheet Milton Friedman: How to Cure Health Care Medtronic: Annual Report Abbott Laboratories: Annual Report Stryker: 2021 Comprehensive Report HCA Healthcare, Inc: Annual Report Fierce Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente reports $8.1B net profit in 2021 despite shrinking operating income UHS: Annual Report UnitedHealth Group: Annual Report Humana: 2021 Annual Report Anthem, Inc: Annual Report Pfizer: Annual Report Merck & Co: Annual Report AbbVie Inc: Annual Report CNBC: The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks Book Love Paul Starr: The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry Steven Brill: America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System Pod Love Congressional Dish: CD255: Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) Sawbones -- 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 online at unftr.com. Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565 Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by costs and distributed by outcomes. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Show Notes, Max and 99 shoot the shit and catch up on what the world’s been up to since they took a lil vacation. Listen to Max Unfiltered. Listen to A Chat with Tom McGovern. Listen to UNFTR x Best of the Left. Listen to The Clinton Years (Parts One, Two, and Three). Listen to UNFTR X News Beat. Chapters Intro: 00:00:20 Emails: 00:18:00 Facebook Shout Outs: 01:25:54 Twitter Shout Outs: 01:28:03 Buy Me A Coffee Donations + Memberships: 01:35:30 Reviews: 01:46:52 Outro: 01:48:58 Resources UNFTR Merch Store Uncertain Hour Podcast: Season One Unf*ckers Facebook Group Ike McCorkle (Colorado) Mother Country Radicals Podcast Chesa Boudin on News Beat Tom McGovern: Someone Ate My Corn  Behind The Bastards: The Second American Civil War You Never Learned About UNFTR on Youtube The Captain’s Band (Hold Fast) -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Countless Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people go missing or are murdered across Canada and the United States in an ongoing genocide receiving inadequate attention from media, governments, and law enforcement. Who’s taking and killing them, and why isn’t more being done? News Beat podcast—Manny’s other love—speaks with Native women on both sides of the border who break down the causes and perpetrators of these atrocities and seek justice for the many mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, and nieces, missing or slain. South Carolina (by way of New York) hip-hop sorceress LiKWUiD performs original verse to illuminate their mission, and the crisis. Access the accompanying episode here. -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is a re-release of sorts. Due to the amount of positive feedback we received on our Clinton Years series, we decided to put the series together into one seamless episode to make it easier to share. Access the essays for Parts One, Two, and Three. Chapters Special Intro: 00:00:06 Prologue: 00:02:53 Chapter One: 00:07:36 Chapter Two: 00:32:26 Chapter Three: 00:40:31 Chapter Four: 00:52:42 Chapter Five: 01:16:21 Chapter Six: 01:26:39 Chapter Seven: 01:34:38 Chapter Eight: 01:43:36 Chapter Nine: 01:55:13 Chapter Ten: 02:01:03 Access the resources for Parts One, Two, and Three. Book Love Lily Geismer: Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality Nathan J. Robinson: Superpredator: Bill Clinton’s Use and Abuse of Black America Bernard Harcourt: The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order Binyamin Appelbaum: The Economists’ Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society Matt Taibbi: Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the United States Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If not for Best of the Left, we are not. The person who put UNFTR on the map has graciously allowed us to drop his very special 1,500th anniversary show on our feed. The episode is titled “America, A Beginner’s Guide” and it’s an earful. A masterpiece written, crafted and produced by our friend and mentor Jay Tomlinson, one of the pioneers of political podcasting. Access the transcript here. Resources Episode page The Jingles - Media Manipulation Tactic Explainer Songs Sally McConnell-Ginet: Words Matter Lulu Miller: Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Best of the Left on social: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram -- 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 online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. 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. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.