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.

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

Becoming..? The country founded on the principle that only landowners and capitalists should be represented democratically is becoming an oligarchy?

[–] MothmanDelorian 31 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, because the early USA did not resemble an modern oligarchy but rather a plutocracy which despite its problems still has greater room for a merit based system than a modern oligarchy provides. We are intentionally concentrating a tremendous amount of wealth in the hands of very few people.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Plutocracy = rule by the wealthy.

Oligarchy = rule by the few.

The wealthy are the few. And with increasing wealth disparity, they are comparatively even fewer than ever before.

Not really any meaningful difference.

[–] aesthelete 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Maybe if we keep going with the concentration of wealth we can boil it all down to just one guy and then drown that guy in the bathtub like Republicans wanted to do with the federal government.

Ps: As far as your oligarchy vs plutocracy thing goes, we're just both.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago

Yeah, I read that and was like... "Ya know, you're only about 260 years late..."

[–] amon 6 points 7 hours ago

The one directly inspired by Rome, an oligarchy with strict class systems and slavery?