this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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Summary

In his farewell speech, President Joe Biden warned of a growing "oligarchy" in the U.S., where extreme wealth and power threaten democracy.

Comparing modern elites to 19th-century robber barons, he called for reforms to hold the wealthy accountable, as done in the past.

Biden also criticized a "tech-industrial complex" concentrating power and spreading disinformation, weakening democracy.

His remarks sparked a surge in Google searches for "oligarchy."

The speech comes amid rising concerns about policies favoring billionaires, like Trump’s tax cuts and potential cuts to social safety programs.

(page 2) 50 comments
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

See also: Police State

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago (2 children)

He’s just as complacent in the oligarchical society we currently have as anyone.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Hey now - he was perfectly fine with the plutocracy that has ruled for hundreds of years. It's Republican legislation that led to this -- think Dodd-Frank.

Democrat leadership is happy to skim some off the top. Republicans will strip it to the bone.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Bernie's been saying this for a long time. I'm glad Biden understands that it's true and actually said it out loud to people. If someone asked me if Biden would say it some point, I would have said no fucking way.

It's not the worst thing that people are trying to educate themselves even if it's too late.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Love Carlin. Hate this quote.

  1. "Half of them are smarter than that" is just as true but doesn't have the same zing.
  2. The zing is that the regurgitation makes everyone feel as though they are on the right side of the distribution and thus superior.

Truth is, we are all closer to chimps than Einstein. And Einstein still left some lingering questions for us to solve.

That's the distribution. Not "Everyone is stupid except me and you, dear reader."

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Getting bugged that that's the median and not the average/mean

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

True. However both should sit on the same spot on top of the bell curve for IQ distribution. Also the majority of people is not aware of the difference between the two. You’d have to explain to more than half of your audience what a median is (essentially killing the joke this way).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Average can also refer to median. It’s a better measure of central tendency than mean in this case.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 months ago

Man who is part of making the problem much worse tries to save his legacy by pointing the problem but claiming it is just starting to become a problem.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 2 months ago

Two things are true:

  1. He did a lot and still should have done more - still ends up as probably the most progressive president to hold the office. More of a criticism of this country.

  2. All of you claiming "too little too late" don't think on the scale of history. Those things have never been said by that leader's voice, In that leader's office, broadcast on primetime TV to everyone, everywhere.

This is how progress works. Again, would have been better for him to say it from the start, but would have been fuel for the right (who doesn't even really need credible fuel for the people they talk to) even more obstructionist, bad faith ghouls.

All the above considered, we were fucked as soon as election result came in. Democracy is over, if there was s cashed they wouldn't try to literally draw and quarter Biden on the national mall in the next four years, this likely solidified it. Don't think him saying those words are said without personal risk. I think he failed to live up to the full mandate of his election, but this is an old mmm an whip knows he's about to die saying fuck it and pulling the pin on the grenade knowing he won't outrun the blast. In his reality, that's what this decision was.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Robert Reich has a great description of the times we're in and how history is repeating itself: https://youtu.be/Nmq7QqqY4vo

The Gilded Age with Robber Barons

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Probably the same people who were googling why Biden wasn't on the ticket on election day 🙄

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I was overwhelmed,so I just stayed home.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Biden became a good president... in his last month in office.

Or to be blunt: He's being performative now when it doesn't matter

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Biden was a good president. And then he enabled Israel to go on a spree of war crimes, and also allowed Trump to, uh, live.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The Supreme Court: Nothing the President does is illegal

Everyone: Even ordering Seal Team Six to Mar-A-Lago

Biden: Cool, goes for ice cream and does nothing with this information

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I don't count any of them as "good president" with a 800B annual military budget. Or the rest of the totalitarian federal budget they rubber stamp without fail. There's a lot of shit baked into the federal government that they never, ever veto in the budget, dark as all fucking hell, that Americans just ignore.

I would say, the genocide revealed who he already was, in a very clear way, but the signs and the evil deeds were already there.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

"Look at all those slave masters posing on your dollars."

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