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 realize, and we are wholly unprepared. This episode breaks down the speed and totality of what’s coming in the AI revolution and speaks to how prominent economists from history through today would manage the impending employment crisis.
Chapters
Prologue: 00:00:43
Introduction: Storm Clouds. 00:03:52
Chapter One: The Coming AI Job Apocalypse. 00:06:52
Chapter Two: Full Employment. 00:20:55
Chapter Three: Breaking from Neoliberal Thinking. 00:28:34
Bring It Home, Max. 00:37:26
Post Show Musings: 00:42:23
Outro: 01:10:58
Watch
YouTube Video: Unpacking the Ceasefire Agreement: Shades of the Iran Hostage Deal. https://youtu.be/Bnfzl1xWumc
Resources
Goldman Sachs: What to expect from AI in 2025: hybrid workers, robotics, expert models
Levy Institute: Working Paper No. 542 Keynes’s Approach to Full Employment: Aggregate or Targeted Demand?
Fisher Phillips: U.S. House Delivers Sweeping AI Report: 10 Biggest Takeaways for Employers
118th Congress: Bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence
Congressional Budget Office: Artificial Intelligence and Its Potential Effects on the Economy and the Federal Budget
Congressional Research Service: The Macroeconomic Effects of Artificial Intelligence
Convin: Is AI a Threat to the BPO Industry? AI in BPO Industry Explained
UNFTR Episode Resources
Housing First: Non-Negotiable #1.
The U.S. Economy: Have we reached a boiling point?
Has “Creative Destruction” Reached Silicon Valley? The Capitalism Trap.
Modern Monetary Theory. Can we afford it? Yes. Yes, we can.
F*ck Milton Friedman. The Chicago school of economics.
Book Love
Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo: Good Economics for Hard Times
Kurt Vonnegut: Player Piano
--
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, TikTok and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com.
Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com.
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 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."