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.

  • Matombo@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    43
    ·
    1 month ago

    If only he and his party was in power for some years and could have done something about it…

    • MJKee9@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      1 month ago

      The DNC is complicit and has been for years… But betraying Bernie was the inciting incident for the US’s most recent foray into authoritarianism.

    • capital_sniff@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      1 month ago

      I like blaming Biden and all but let’s be real we are in this mess because a bunch of the people that occupy the underclass with us are actively fighting against us and for the rich ass rulers.

      • WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        1 month ago

        And the reason to blame for that is that Democrats have shown they don’t really care about working class people. So these people end up falling for the propaganda of the right since there’s no real counter to it, especially with the Democrats capitulating on issues like immigration during this election. We need an actual progressive or labor party to bring these people away from the right. But the Democrats continue to refuse to become that party and without better voting systems a third party will only really work on the local level.

        • capital_sniff@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 month ago

          Of course Democrats care about working class people. The party is just currently run by a bunch of overly educated elites that don’t have an interest in listening to the workers. Because when they do listen they hear complaints that are all over the place. The Dems moved to the right a long while ago, and around the globe liberal parties are all facing major setbacks, and our liberal party here in America is farther right than most of our democratic peers. My point is that neither of our political parties will ever do what you are asking for without being forced to action by the people.

          Except our electorate is so broken that 30+% of them voted for the billionaire party and are waiting patiently with their hands cupped for that sweet trickle down. Except they are more than likely about to get austerity before they get dental coverage. I really don’t know how to get through to some of these people, they either don’t understand a ton or have fundamentally different values. Values that are in opposition to the basics of a liberal democratic system. Part of me wants to shake every one of the taxes are theft post tea party MAGA clowns and take them on a tour of where the real theft is… like say any of the multiple private space companies that launch rich assholes into orbit and sadly bring them back.

          A big part of the problem is the underclass republican supporters are just little authoritarian tyrants themselves. Given the chance they are all too ready to pull the ladder up behind them.

      • MisterScruffy@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        Poor weak dems can never do anything, their hands are always tied! And they will always be tied because the corporate overlords don’t want effective leftwing politicians so we only get the feckless ones

        • WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 month ago

          This is a point I think more people really have to consider. How come the Republicans will use every ounce of power they have to get things done but Democrats will give up at the first sign of a challenge. I think it’s because the Republicans actually have leadership that actually wants to do their insane policies with their donors supporting them. While Democrats have leadership that only takes on leftist points begrudgingly to try and win their votes and donors that don’t want those things to happen. So a rotating villain always pops up ready to block all progress and even if they lose reelection cause of it they still have their nice cushy lobbying job waiting for them on the way out.

        • Rhoeri@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 month ago

          I’d like to take a moment to remind you that while I wholeheartedly disagree with the entirely of your statement, and pretty much your entire ideology-

          you’re allowed to share it here.

          Seriously. Take note of this, because if you check the modlogs of the .ml mods and admins, people actually get banned for “anticommunism” and just simply disagreeing with the hive.

          And no, this isn’t intended to be an “us vs them” thing. It’s simply pointing out something that I believe should be considered.

          Also, while these differences may be cause for anger in some people, I’m actually glad that you have the ability to share your opinions here.

          Lemmy shouldn’t be walled gardens. And we should be able to share our opinions-

          regardless of how stupid they are.

          • MisterScruffy@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            You have no response so you complain about mods. Lots of good posts get removed by .world mods you don’t see me bringing that up when I’m losing an argument

            • Rhoeri@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 month ago

              LMAO! Dude… What response could there be? To me, it seems as if you’re just rattling off from a list of generic far left rhetoric. In my opinion, it’s mostly just meaningless nonsense. My apologies, but… There is little content there that I felt was worthy of a response.

              I’ll digress though:

              I suppose I could have responded with the fact that you had nothing worth responding to, but instead I chose to point out something I thought would be more helpful:

              The fact that here, you’re allowed to say dumb shit. As long as you remain within the rules. Elsewhere, you’re not. And unlike you, I have the modlogs to back up what I’m saying. Go ahead and compare.

              .ml admins override your mods all the time. Like ALL the time. Nearly all the actions in the form of removals and bans are handed out by just two people. There’s a shit-load of irony in that, it that’s for another time.

              Again, checking the modlogs, you can see that world admins step in rarely to only moderate troll instance bans and spambot removal. Mostly, the mods handle the rest. Go on, look it up… On the surface, .ml mods seem to have very little say in anything. Whereas .world seems to allow moderators to work independently with little interference.

              Is .world perfect? Oh hell no! FAAAAAAR from it. But my intent was not to rub this observation against perfection. It was to make a simple distinction.

              And I believe I’ve done just that. Thanks for allowing me the platform to express this point. I wouldn’t have been able to say this on .ml.

              -Oh, and for the record… I wasn’t losing an argument. We haven’t ever spoken prior to now.