The Wes Cecil Podcast Late Capitalism: A Survival Guide - Ep. 3 The "Logic" of Financialization
Dec 1, 2025
Explore the bizarre logic of financialization and how it shapes late capitalism. Wes highlights personal experiences, like opaque cell phone billing, as examples of exploitation tactics. Discover how companies turn customer attention into revenue streams and the predatory nature of buy-now-pay-later models. The episode unveils how platforms treat users as commodities and discusses the implications of disorienting design. Finally, Wes emphasizes the importance of local markets and understanding these systems for better mental health.
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Verizon Billing As A Revenue Engine
- Wes Cecil recounts getting a Verizon phone and repeatedly being overbilled despite signing a printed contract.
- Each billing error became a chance for upsells, turning his service calls into revenue-generation events for Verizon.
Users Are The Product On Platforms
- Cecil argues that platforms like Amazon treat users as products whose attention and data are sold to merchants.
- An AI shopping agent that resists psychological manipulation threatens that revenue model, which is why incumbents fight it.
Buy-Now-Pay-Later's Hidden Profit Center
- Wes Cecil explains buy-now-pay-later services like Klarna that appear free but profit from merchant fees and late-payment penalties.
- Their model depends on users missing payments, then charging high fees or interest and funneling unpaid accounts into collections.
