Inside the System as It Falls Apart

Inside the System as It Falls Apart

From Omnishambles by Virginia Heffernan and Cy Canterel

March 12, 2026 · 59 min

About this episode

Virginia and Cy discuss the implications of Mark Carney's eulogy for neoliberal capitalism and the systemic failures that follow.

Welcome to Omnishambles! Subscribing is free! On this episode, Virginia and Cy discuss why Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney just gave a eulogy for neoliberal capitalism at Davos, and what comes after the fiction falls apart. We discuss: * Why Carney’s Davos speech was the diplomatic equivalent of taking down the communist party slogan from the greengrocer’s wall (Václav Havel would be proud) * The surprisingly dark connection between Horatio Alger, Jeffrey Epstein, and the extractive core of the American Dream * What H-Mart Gate revealed about proximity to power, model minorities, and who gets to be Cassandra * Why we need to stop asking powerful people to change themselves (because they won’t) * Mass transitions, rubber bands, and the moment before the grid snaps * How level three maintenance techs have more power than your congressman (and what that means for resistance) * Direct action vs. endless petitioning: where the real pressure points are in a failing system * Cy’s wild career arc from coding on Andy Warhol’s software to working inside GE as it collapsed to becoming a perfumer because smell can’t be digitized Plus: why hope means accepting that the future is dark…

People in this episode

Hosts: Virginia Heffernan, Cy Canterel

Topics covered

  • neoliberal capitalism
  • Davos
  • American Dream
  • power dynamics
  • resistance
  • hope
  • system failure

Keywords

  • neoliberalism
  • Davos
  • American Dream
  • power
  • resistance
  • hope
  • system collapse

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: H-Mart, GE

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