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

Unf*cking The Republic

UNFTR Media

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 683 Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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

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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."

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Come listen to the man who knew we finally had enough, so we started up a podcast and called upon his friends.
0:13.3	No matter where you're from or your unique political bend, here's the story of our perfect
0:18.4	American ass. Max in 99 with the facts to blow your mind.
0:24.1	The nanny with the wicked sound design.
0:27.4	So grab a seat and pour yourself a glass of writer's tears.
0:31.0	Unfucking the republic is about to begin.
0:40.3	Fuck you too, Milton's freedom. The progressive movement stands at a crossroads. While the right continues its march
1:00.9	toward ethno-nationalist populism and the center clings to the status quo, the left has failed
1:07.1	to articulate a coherent vision that speaks to the material conditions of working
1:11.8	Americans. Over the past several weeks, we've outlined five non-negotiable pillars that
1:17.3	must form the foundation of any serious progressive coalition. Housing first because stable
1:22.9	shelter is a prerequisite for human flourishing, a federal guarantee of meaningful work through a new civilian labor corps,
1:30.3	Medicare for all because health care is a human right,
1:33.2	climate action because there is no prosperity on a dead planet,
1:37.1	and campaign finance reform because democracy dies in darkness and dark money.
1:43.5	Today we're tackling our second pillar of establishing a civilian labor corps.
1:48.0	The timing couldn't be more critical.
1:50.0	You may have picked up on chatter in the wind about the impending job apocalypse at the hands of artificial intelligence.
1:57.0	And I'm here to tell you that this is real.
1:59.0	It's coming faster and more furious than you realize, and we are wholly unprepared.
2:05.6	This is the ultimate force multiplier, adding to intensified demographic headwinds from low birth rates to retiring boomers,
2:13.7	slow growth in Europe and China, looming deregulation and tax cuts that will widen inequality
	...

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