This Wreckage

NEWS EP! AI apocalypse and regulation scenarios. Global shipping disrupted big time. Xi winning. Flights are grounded; nature is healing. AFD surge in Germany. All hail the Great and Powerful Theil!
SUPPORT THE SHOW AT HTTP://PATREON.COM/THISWRECKAGE

Show notes:
Riley on AI vs market capitalism: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/blind-guesses
China's AI Great leap forward: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/business/china-ai-economy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Global shipping in crisis: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/5761d9f3-1150-4323-ab8e-41c9a56e3099
AI doomsday scenarios: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/17/tech/how-will-ai-exterminate-humanity-cec
European Jet Fuel shortage: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/europe-faces-q4-jet-fuel-supply-deficit-even-south-korea-becomes-latest-big-2026-09-21/
Karp audio: https://youtu.be/2YVCdwvG548?si=PJJLcaHdDeeb6SUs&t=447
Xi rolls Trump on trade: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/xi-rolls-into-trump-summit-with-chinas-trade-engine-roaring-2026-09-21/ Ukraine / Russia war analysis: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-battlefield/
German elections: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/world/europe/germany-merz-pressure-afd.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Song: Johnny Cash - Legend of John Henry

SUPPORT THE SHOW AT HTTP://PATREON.COM/THISWRECKAGE

In this bonus episode Andy and Sean are joined by roving media correspondent, Rax King, to get into some of the 80s/90s urtexts that created 21st century American culture: spoken word and standup comedy by Generation X luminaries Jello Biafra, Henry Rollins and Denis Leary. What do these cultural artifacts from a bygone era tell us about how all the highlights of organized American political life in this millennium - from Bush to Obama to Trump - came into being? Which aspects of what they critiqued are still discernable and which would be incomprehensible to a post-GFC, post-literate society?
This is the first episode of a new mini-series exploring the dark recesses of the Gen X mind.
To listen to the entire episode and all of our great bonus content, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thiswreckage to support our work.

Sean and Andy are joined by historian Daniel Wortel-London to discuss his recent book The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development 1865-1981 out now from University of Chicago Press.
Without the taxes and jobs generated by wealthy firms and households, we are told, our communities cannot survive. But what if the costs of elite-driven growth outweighed its benefits? What if the wealthy were not the fiscal saviors of American cities, but their assassins? What if relying on the rich to “take care of everyone else” was neither politically nor financially sustainable? And what would all this mean for how our communities should develop economically?
His history is particularly timely as the Mamdani administration tries, within the bounds of political economy, to open up what Daniel calls the 'fiscal imaginary' of what is possible on a municipal level.

Song: Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Part II

&y, &ers Lee & a special SECRET guest (Jake Flores) compare some Zoomer 9/11 takes (via the Daily Wire) and the post-9/11 hot takes that got Susan Sontag, Amiri Baraka in some trouble.

For the full episode support the show at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

Brooklyn vs. Dallas. Brownstones vs McMansions. Jelly Roll Morton vs. Jelly Roll. The Braves vs. The Savannah Bananas.
The authors of "Alphabet America" (Liam and Jackson) claim that their theory of a cosmopolitan America A and a psuedo-rural America B is "the most explanatory method of understanding the cultural divide," and that " the vast majority of people, whether they can name it or not, experience life in America this way more than they do under any other schema of social categorization we have seen."
We define the two Americas, pick apart their origins, speculate on if they're heading towards a civil war, and question how to engage with this specific type of polarization.
Alphabet America: https://newmoralworld.substack.com/p/alphabet-america
Gladio Free Europe: https://www.patreon.com/GladioFreeEurope
Phil Neel interview about Hinterland: https://brooklynrail.org/2018/04/field-notes/PHIL-NEEL-with-Paul-Mattick/
Songs: Dolly Parton - Tennessee Homesick Blues & Coat of Many Colors