This Wreckage

<p>We take another break from WW3 and various attempted assassinations with a sojourn into some economic shit with our guest <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://cosmonautmag.com/authors/?author=nicolas-d-villarreal">Nicolas D Villarreal</a>, an independent researcher focusing on the capitalist political economy.</p><p><strong>For the </strong><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/156608361"><strong>full episode,</strong></a><strong> support the show at </strong><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/c/thiswreckage"><strong>http://patreon.com/thiswreckage</strong></a></p><p>Full piece: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/the-capitalist-in-the-21st-century/">https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/the-capitalist-in-the-21st-century/</a></p><p>Response <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-limiting-factors-in-capitalist-growth/">https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-limiting-factors-in-capitalist-growth/</a></p><p>Counter-Response <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-why-the-limit-is-not-a-lack-of-opportunity/">https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-why-the-limit-is-not-a-lack-of-opportunity/</a></p><p></p><p>FT article in agricultural inflation: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/e13369c2-edb8-4418-adfb-3496d2fae185">https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/e13369c2-edb8-4418-adfb-3496d2fae185</a></p><p>CBS News' penny pinching tips: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/TheRealVarnVlog/status/2048217038443991052">https://x.com/TheRealVarnVlog/status/2048217038443991052</a></p><p></p><p>Song: Kinks - Maximum Consumption</p>

<p></p><p>Sean and Andy are joined by researcher A.J.A. Woods to discuss their new book <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.versobooks.com/products/3239-the-cultural-marxism-conspiracy">The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West.</a></p><p> How did this basket of conspiracies come together in the post-60s moment? Who was Lyndon Larouche and how did he provide a bridge from quasi-Leninist elitism to the Reaganite New Right? What does culture even mean for the right and how has it taken such outsized importance for them? </p><p>And, in the bonus for subscribers, what might an actual Marxism that is cultural look like and how many Beatles songs was Theodor Adorno responsible for writing?</p><p><strong>Become a supporter of our work at </strong><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/thiswreckage"><strong>www.patreon.com/thiswreckage</strong></a></p><p></p><p>Song: Alien Nosejob - Kinks vs. Stones</p>

<p>&amp;y &amp; &amp;ers celebrate weed's birthday with our annual reading of "Wally B" (Walter Benjamin)! </p><p>This year, we read Leon Wieseltier's weasel-tier preface to Benjamin's Illuminations, then "<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://tems.umn.edu/pdf/Benjamin-3-11-Unpacking%20My%20Library.pdf">Unpacking My Library</a>" and a section of Berlin Childhood. </p><p><strong>For the full episode, subscribe at </strong><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/c/thiswreckage"><strong>http://patreon.com/thiswreckage </strong></a>&amp; listen to the end for a story of Anders' Benjamin-inspired direct action against Rahm Emmanuel. </p><p>Song: Eminem - Cleanin' Out My Closet (Slowed)</p>

<p>NEWS EP! Andy is a bestseller. Sean becomes a Luddite Gnome. Orbon is Or-gone. Situation monitoring Hormuz, and looking back at the Suez crisis. </p><p> In the bonus we discuss AI-generated Iranian propaganda. To hear that, support the show at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/c/thiswreckage">http://patreon.com/thiswreckage</a></p><p></p><p> Metropolitans B&amp;N event with Noah Kulwin: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062206054-0">https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062206054-0</a> </p><p>‘Summer of Ludd’ <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/style/lamp-club-luddites.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/style/lamp-club-luddites.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share</a> </p><p>Orban Loss: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/us/politics/orban-trump-maga.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/us/politics/orban-trump-maga.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share</a> </p><p>Audio of Iranian warning that scared away US Navy warship <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/eternalphysics/status/2043309125572936047?s=46">https://x.com/eternalphysics/status/2043309125572936047?s=46</a> </p><p>Suez and Iran by Niall Ferguson <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/america-suez-crisis-trump-presidency-world-order-iran-cqrfs86z0">https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/america-suez-crisis-trump-presidency-world-order-iran-cqrfs86z0</a></p><p>Central banks sell US Treasuries in wake of Iran war: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/6fac51c8-b650-48d4-82eb-e6e66f75dd2fForeign">https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/6fac51c8-b650-48d4-82eb-e6e66f75dd2fForeign</a> </p><p></p><p>Iran plans permanent changes to world economy <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/04/10/766586/why-no-matter-can-undermine-iran-eternal-dominance-over-strait-hormuz">https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/04/10/766586/why-no-matter-can-undermine-iran-eternal-dominance-over-strait-hormuz</a></p><p></p><p></p>

<p>Catching up with Molly Crabapple about <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646320/here-where-we-live-is-our-country-by-molly-crabapple/">Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund</a>, available TODAY!! </p><p>See also Molly's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.nybooks.com/online/2018/10/06/my-great-grandfather-the-bundist/">"My Great Grandfather was a Bundist"</a> in New York Review of Books </p><p>Support the show / get bonus content at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/c/thiswreckage">http://patreon.com/thiswreckage</a></p><p>Song: New Yiddish Chorale/Workers Circle Chorus feat. Adrienne Cooper - Barikadn (Barricades) </p>