Scott Bessent can’t do anything right. He just announced a paltry bond buyback that fell flat with the market responding by pushing rates higher. Bessent also proclaimed that he is “the house” and that people shouldn’t bet against him because he has inside information about what the Bank of Japan is going to do. Interesting. The guy doesn’t know what our central bank is going to do but he has the inside track on the BOJ? The market there is also telling him to get lost. And after he said he would cripple the Iranian regime in a matter of weeks or months with sanctions, the Iranians have been striking back and have now declared that they’re going to cripple our economy. Bessent is going to go down in history as the worst Treasury Secretary we’ve ever had.

Resources

Bloomberg Television: Bessent Tells Yen Traders ‘I Am the House Now’

CNBC International Live: ‘I am the house’: Scott Bessent’s challenge to traders

Bloomberg Television: Commodities Bull Market Is Underpriced: 3-Minutes MLIV

ABC News: Oil Prices Climb Over $100 per Barrel as War in Iran Continues

Bloomberg Television: US Treasury to Buy Up to $6 Billion in Long-Dated Debt

Fox Business Clips: ‘SLINGSHOT’: Treasury’s rate move gets BRUTAL reality check

IMF: Did the Plaza Accord Cause Japan’s Lost Decades?

U.S. Department of the Treasury: Treasury Launches Unprecedented Campaign Against Iranian Regime on Economic D-Day

The Hill: Iran reignites Strait of Hormuz fight as US tightens squeeze

NBC News: Diesel hits all-time high of $6 per gallon, and just about everything will cost more

Brookings: What is yield curve control?

npr: Trump’s controversial nominee drops bid to head vital data-gathering agency

U.S. Department of the Treasury: Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (1934 - 1945)

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Henry Morgenthau Jr.

npr: The IRS slashed its staff. One result? More taxes going uncollected

UNFTR Resources

Video: The Treasury Secretary Who Can’t Get It Right

Essay: Scott Bessent Can’t Stop Failing.

--

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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This week we dissected JD Vance’s child care rule change: A Heritage Foundation tradwife policy dressed up as family values, funded by gutting support for the single working parents who actually need it. Then Nathan Robinson joined us to talk about why the socialist moment is real and the DSA keeps winning where it’s not supposed to. And in honor of Labor Day, we put the wage-price spiral myth to rest: real wages flat for 50 years, corporate earnings through the roof, and the Fed looking the other way the whole time.

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:38

Quick Takes: 00:01:33

Max Notes: 00:05:43

Phone A Friend: 00:14:04

Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:37:19

Chart of the Week: 00:39:19

Outro: 00:42:26

Resources

The Ghoul Pool

wgaltv: Democrats criticize Fetterman after WSJ report claims he avoids meeting with constituents

Steven A. Smith: Abdul El-Sayed on Israel, Hasan Piker, ICE and JD Vance

A24: You Can See Everything

Al Jazeera English: Far-right AFD wins vote in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state: Exit polls

Mother Jones: Ashley Hinson Fought to Save Private Equity’s Favorite Loophole

The New York Times: Trump Officials Draft Plan to Pay At-Home Parents, Using Funds for Working Ones

The Heritage Foundation: Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years

Politico: Heritage Foundation calls on US to prioritize marriage and family in new report

Congress: The Child Care and Development Block Grant: In Brief

National Women’s Law Center: Re-Envisioning CCDF

Emerald Book: How the 68% Black Single Motherhood Myth Harms Black Women and Families

Center for American Progress: The Economic Status of Single Mothers

Financial Planning Association: Leveraging Divorce to Maximize College Financial Aid

Nathan J. Robinson: Why You Should Be a Socialist

Nathan J. Robinson: Hillbilly Hypocrisy: ND Vance and the Dark Future of MAGA Politics

Subscribe to Current Affairs Magazine.

Jacobin: Capitalism makes “everyone feels a little insane”

Investopedia: Wage-Price Spiral: What It Is and How It’s Controlled

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Average Hourly Earnings of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, Total Private

Union Stats: Union Membership, Coverage, Density and Employment by Sector and Demographic Group: 1973-2025

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Corporate Profits After Tax (without IVA and CCAdj)

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average

Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Center for Microeconomic Data

UNFTR Resources

Video: On The Record 9-08-26 (JD Vance’s Disgusting Stunt | Trump is Melting | Nathan Robinson.)

Essay: Hillbilly Hypocrite.

Episode: Did Ronald Reagan Destroy the American Dream?

Episode: Merchants of Death.

Episode: Labor Daze.

Episode: Economics of Racism.

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Trump administration official Kevin Hassett declared the latest jobs report as a “present to the American people” for Labor Day. Really, Kevin? Let’s dig into this claim by looking closely at the labor data. What you’ll find is that more Americans than ever are dislocated from the full-time employment picture in this country, and that this administration has zero idea how to fix it. And they’re not even trying. But, sure. Happy Labor Day, America. Enjoy the weekend worrying about how to pay your bills.

Resources

Bloomberg Television: NEC’s Hassett Says Inflation Is Under Control

Vox: The Trump administration’s “cubic model” of coronavirus deaths, explained

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Labor Force Participation Rate

NBC News: Trump’s new Fed chair walks fine line on inflation in key speech

Bureau of Labor Statistics: The Employment Situation — August 2026

ADP Research: National Employment Report

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: All Employees, Manufacturing

Peterson-KFF Health Systems Tracker: What are the recent trends in employer-based health coverage?

KFF: Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance 101

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Frequently asked questions about data on contingent and alternative employment arrangements (May 2017)

Bloomberg: Fewer Americans are Working or Looking for a Job. Experts Can’t Agree on Why

PBS News: What the July jobs report reveals about the strength of the economy

United States Census Bureau: Monthly Construction Spending, July 2026

UNFTR Resources

Video: The Jobs Report Is A Scam: Here’s Why

Episode: Merchants of Death.

Essay: Labor Daze.

--

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Max and 99 are back for another round of Omnibus. They hit headlines on the White House’s Venezuelan oil deal and the money launderer at its center, the Pentagon rolling out its own versions of ChatGPT and Grok, and a Gloria Steinem mantra. Then they tackle listener emails on what drives career politicians to serve billionaires, taxpayer exposure on the Venezuela oil deal, and Reagan’s popularity as a byproduct of mass media monoculture. Enjoy, Unf*ckers.

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:22

Headlines: 00:04:38

Emails: 00:18:54

Fake Outro: 00:38:12

Memberships: 00:43:14

Outro: 00:44:01

Resources

Subscribe to the UNFTR Newsletter

TechCrunch: The Pentagon now has its own version of ChatGPT and Grok

ICIJ: White House pick to run Venezuela oil deal under investigation in two countries

The New Yorker: Road Warrior

Hold Fast

UNFTR Resources

Episode: F*ck Milton Friedman.

Episode: Merchants of Death.

Episode: Did Ronald Regan Destroy the American Dream?

Video: The Jobs Report Is A Scam: Here’s Why

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The United States doesn’t have a comprehensive healthcare “system.” It has a patchwork of coverage options that come with heavy price tags and complicated processes. Consistent GOP attacks have made the entire framework untenable, and the results speak for themselves. Healthcare coverage is deteriorating rapidly under Trump and there’s no going back at this point. This might be the opening we need to finally have a real conversation about Medicare for All. But there’s going to be a lot of pain between now and then.

Resources

KFF: ACA Marketplace Enrollment Is Down By 3 Million After Big Jump in Premium Payments

The New York Times: Uninsured Patients Rise Sharply, Hospitals Report, Citing Obamacare Cuts

Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker: How much and why ACA Marketplace premiums are going up in 2027

Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker: How much and why premiums are going up for small businesses in 2027

American Medical Association: Changes to Medicaid, the ACA and other key provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Common Dreams: Nearly 2.5 Million Children Have Lost Medicaid and CHIP—So Far—During Trump’s Second Term

STAT: The Trump administration is burying science and health care in paperwork

Book Love

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

Steven Brill: America’s Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System

Paul Starr: The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry

UNFTR Resources

Video: Healthcare Is Broken—And It’s Not Getting Better.

Essay: Merchants of Death.

Series: Healthcare.

Episode: Medicare for All.

Episode: Pharmacy Benefit Managers.

5 Non-Negotiables.

--

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.

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Ronald Reagan. Champion of neoliberalism. To some, the man who lifted the spirits of a nation and restored a sense of pride and optimism after a period of despair. To others, the Reagan years marked the death of liberalism. A dark turn toward unfettered capitalist exploitation and the decapitation of working class movements and civil rights. So, which is it? Was Ronald Reagan responsible for ushering in an era of prosperity and restoring national pride as his boosters maintain? Or was he indeed the harbinger of doom and the reason we have Donald Trump today? Like most things, it’s complicated. But there are three ways in which Reagan fundamentally altered the trajectory of the United States to the detriment of most American families. Max walks through each of them before offering a bit of context for the era and ends with an example of a modern political figure that borrows from Reagan’s political playbook but with a twist: this time it’s to do good in the world.

Resources

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute: Americans Still Believe in Strong U.S. Global Leadership and Engagement, Including Young MAGA Republicans

The New York Times: Javits Sees G.O.P. Hurt By Reagan

NPR: 1976: The Last Time Republicans Duked It Out To The Last, Heated Minute : NPR

270ToWin: 1980 Presidential Election Interactive Map

Center for Public Integrity: How four decades of tax cuts fueled inequality

Roosevelt Institute: To Put Trickle-down Economics to Rest, We Need a New Tax Code

Wikipedia: Americans for Tax Reform

Brennan Center for Justice: Citizens United, Explained

Heritage Foundation: Reagan And Heritage: A Unique Partnership

The Nation: The Mandate for Leadership, Then and Now

The New York Times: The Strike That Busted Unions

Jacobin: The Legacy of the Crushed 1981 PATCO Strike

NPR + Code Switch: The Truth Behind The Lies Of The Original ‘Welfare Queen’

History: Just Say No

History of Cannabis Project: Reagan Drug Policy — Just Say No & the 1986 Act

Wikipedia: Dark Alliance

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General: CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy

PBS: The Iran-Contra Affair

National Archives: President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address (1961)

Peter G. Peterson Foundation: The United States Spends More on Defense than the Next 6 Countries Combined

Frederic Lemieux: Militarization of Law Enforcement in America

ProPublica: The Best Reporting on Federal Push to Militarize Local Police

CounterPunch: The Hidden Cost of the U.S. Military: The Real Budget is Far Larger Than Reported

UNFTR Resources

Video: Did Reagan Destroy the American Dream?

Essay: Did Ronald Reagan Destroy the American Dream?

The Carter Series.

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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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This week we tore apart The Heritage Foundation’s spin on the Venezuela oil deal—the “world’s gas station” line slogan, the math on what Venezuela gets back is embarrassing, and what’s really happening is a century-old colonial playbook dressed up in PR language. Then we looked at a Pew chart: global favorability of the U.S. just dropped below China’s for the first time. That’s where dollar dominance eventually ends—not in the bond market, but in reputation. And we’re burning through ours fast.

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:38

Quick Takes: 00:01:43

Max Notes: 00:06:13

Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:20:47

Chart of the Week: 00:22:17

Outro: 00:24:20

Resources

NBC News: Far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos detained by ICE at New Orleans airport

The New York Times: Milo Yiannopoulos, Right-Wing Agitator, Deported Home to U.K.

U.S. Democratic Socialists: Angie Nixon DESTROYS Laura Loomer After Disgusting Comments!

The Omission: 78 Days

NBC News: Kalshi permanently bans George Santos after he secretly bet on himself

WGRZ-TV: Seneca nation President reacts to Lake Ontario name change

The Progressive: The Long Con of John Roberts

CNN: Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ in US searches

Bloomberg Podcasts: Venezuela Oil Deal Raises Questions Over US Role

PBS News: What we know about Trump’s deal giving U.S. access to vast oil reserves in Venezuela

The Heritage Foundation: Why American Energy Dominance Is a Strategic Imperative

Reuters: Venezuela PDVSA’s 2011 net profit rises 42 pct

El País: Venezuela’s economic crisis fueled by looting of its state-owned oil company

The Heritage Foundation: Fighting a Just War in Iraq

ConocoPhillips: International Arbitration Tribunal Orders Venezuela to Pay ConocoPhillips $8.7 Billion for Unlawful Expropriation of Company’s Oil Investments

Al Jazeera: ‘Profoundly pro-American’: Machado outlines a vision for Venezuela’s future

CNBC: Venezuela’s interim president says U.S. energy deal will last 25 years

Marketplace: Earnings show why big oil isn’t eager to go all-in on Venezuela

Council on Foreign Relations: The U.S. Took Over Venezuela’s Oil Industry. Where Has All the Money Gone?

Vox: How success in Venezuela set Trump up for disaster in Iran

Brittany Page: The Exact Moment Darline Graham Fumbled Her Campaign

Pew Research Center: Views of China have turned more positive – and views of the U.S. more negative – across 20 countries

UNFTR Resources

Video: On The Record 09-01-26 (The Real Story Behind the ‘Great’ Venezuela Oil Deal.)

Essay: Iraqezuela.

Video: Did Reagan Destroy the American Dream?

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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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Max and 99 are back for another round of Omnibus. They hit headlines on John Roberts’ 40-year project to kill the Voting Rights Act and Spirit Airlines selling decades of flight attendant data to Google to train AI. Then they tackle listener emails on wage labor as a central issue, whether UNFTR is a GRU op (lol), and tech bros engineering technocratic feudalism. Enjoy!

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:40

Headlines: 00:07:38

Emails: 00:31:04

Memberships: 00:59:34

Outro: 01:00:33

Resources

Frazier Chorus: Dream Kitchen

Wired: Spirit Airlines Wants to Sell Its Data to Google. Former Flight Attendants Are Freaked Out

The Progressive: The Long Con of John Roberts

FiftyPlusOne: We tracked every candidate in the 2026 primaries. Here’s who voters are nominating.

UNFTR Resources

Video: On The Record 08-25-26 (Scott Bessent is a Loser Who Wants to be President.)

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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.

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This week we staged an intervention for Scott Bessent—the failed hedge fund manager who lost 90% of his assets during the greatest bull run in history and is now the most interventionist Treasury Secretary in decades, scoring own goals in the bond market, undermining the new Fed chair, and threatening Iran with sanctions while refusing to answer a single question about China. Then we checked in on the Trump family stablecoin, which has quietly doubled in market cap. It’s a reminder that the most corrupt president in American history is building the most powerful personal wealth machine in the world, and Congress is about to hand him the legislation to run it.

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:38

Quick Takes: 00:01:28

Max Notes: 00:10:28

Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:21:28

Chart of the Week: 00:23:05

Outro: 00:24:19

Resources

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library: Economic Sanctions of Iran

Associated Press: Bush Prods Allies for Tougher Stance on Iran

American Rhetoric: Barack Obama - On United Nations Sanctions Against Iran

C-SPAN: President Trump announces sanctions on Iranian National Bank

Bloomberg Podcasts: US to End Dollar Access to Those Laundering Iran Money Says Bessent

The New York Times: Jeffries and Kushner Meet Privately as Midterm Attacks Fly

The New York Times: Court Allows Trump to Pursue Mail Voting Limits, for Now

Politico: Trump votes by mail again in his home state of Florida

Financial Times: Natalie Harp, the devoted ‘human printer’ in Trump’s entourage

PBS NewsHour: The potential economic fallout of Trump’s trade war with Canada

Charles Booker for U.S. Senate

Daily Kos: Sean Duffy afraid Harvard will ‘corrupt’ daughter’s brain

Mother Jones: It Just Got Way Easier to Sue Fossil Fuel Companies Over Climate Change

Bloomberg: Bessent Becomes Most Interventionist Treasury Chief in Decades

Fortune: Scott Bessent is using moves from his hedge fund days to prop up Japan’s yen—and America’s $40 trillion national debt

The New York Times: He Helped ‘Break’ the Bank of England. Now He May Run the U.S. Treasury.

The Bulwark: How Trump’s Treasury Secretary Crashed His Own Hedge Fund (w/ Marshall Brandt)

Bloomberg: Will Bessent’s Old Trump Jokes Make His Treasury Job Tricky?

Bloomberg: Bessent Is Stealing a Playbook He Didn’t Even Like

AlterNet: Trump Treasury secretary torn apart for leaving out ‘to-do’ list ‘on-purpose’

Reuters: US will do ‘whatever it takes’ to support Japan after yen intervention, Bessent says

CNBC: Bessent’s efforts in the Treasury market so far haven’t worked. Here’s what else he can try

The Hill: Federal Reserve shifts away from forward guidance under new chief Kevin Warsh

Politico: Bessent’s ‘economic D-Day’ against Iran begins with a ‘warning shot’

Straight White American Jesus: Christian Nationalists and Tech Lords: Derek Chauvin Should Go Free & George Floyd Wasn’t Murdered

Reuters: Trump’s stablecoin chosen for $2 billion Abu Dhabi investment in Binance, co-founder says

CoinGecko: USD1

UNFTR Resources

Video: On The Record 08-25-26 (Scott Bessent is a Loser Who Wants to be President.)

Essay: President Scott Bessent.

--

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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Billionaires are easy to hate. And there are several efforts underway to get them to pay their “fair share.” In this episode, Max argues that focusing on taxing billionaires is the wrong discussion and distracts from attaining the tax policy we truly need. Instead of focusing on the individual billionaires, focus on preventing individuals from becoming billionaires. The real story is corporate taxes.

Resources

Legal Information Institute: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA)

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: The 2017 Trump Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises

Tax Policy Center: What is the TCJA repatriation tax and how does it work?

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: U.S. Corporations’ Repatriation of Offshore Profits: Evidence from 2018

The White House: White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Releases End of Year Deregulatory Stats: Showing the Trump Administration Has Best Deregulation Year in History

The Washington Times: Impact of Trump’s 646 deregulatory actions diluted by tariffs, executive orders

Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Who Is Paying for the 2025 U.S. Tariffs?

Elizabeth Warren: Warren Pushes Giant Corporations to Give Billions in Tariff Refunds Back to Consumers

npr: Companies are getting tariff refunds of up to $2 billion from the Trump administration

CNN: Corporate America got billions of dollars in tariff refunds. Where’s your cut?

Congressional Budget Office: Monthly Budget Review: February 2026

Wall Street Journal: Tariff Revenue Exceeded Corporate Taxes as 2025 Ended

npr: Proposed California wealth tax sparks debate: Will billionaires leave the state?

The New York Times: Founders Wade Into the Wealth Tax Debate

Democratic Socialists of America

Democracy: A Journal of Ideas: Why Corporations Must Pay More

UNFTR Resources

Video: Why Taxing Billionaires Won’t Save Us.

Essay: Don’t Tax the Rich. Cut Them Off.

Episode: Updated Tax Evasion Figures.

Video: On The Record 8-17-26 (The AI Bubble is About to Burst | Corporate Control of Trump.)

5 Non-Negotiables

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Max and 99 are back for another Omnibus. They hit headlines on Tether, the $200 billion crypto company nobody can see inside, and a food safety traceability rule that’s stalled for 15 years. Then they tackle listener emails on Flock cameras doing far more than license plate reading, whether the broligarchy can dump the economic damage on the next Democratic president, and what happens to the dollar if it loses reserve currency status. Enjoy!

Chapters

Intro: 00:00:19

Headlines: 00:16:07

Emails: 00:36:11

Beyond the Bullshit: 01:10:54

Memberships: 01:13:51

Outro: 01:14:13

Resources

Arizona Sky: China Crisis

The Guardian: US law to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks has been delayed for 15 years

ICIJ: The $200 billion company you can’t look inside

Scientific American: Major COVID study that fueled vaccine skepticism retracted over ‘misinformation’

Book Love

Michael Grunwald: The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era

Michael Grunwald: We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate

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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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