this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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News

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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] 62 points 6 hours ago (5 children)

I think we have definitive proof that the American public, in general, are idiots.

[–] JcbAzPx 1 points 39 minutes ago

At least they're trying to learn.

[–] DarkFuture 14 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Want definitive proof?

There are 244m eligible voters in the United States.

77m voted for Trump. Idiots.

2.6m voted 3rd party. Idiots.

90m didn't vote. Idiots.

90+77+2.6 = 169.6

That means 170m of 244m eligible voters are braindead stupid. That's 69.7%. So we essentially have a 70% failure rate amongst eligible voters for maintaining our democracy.

Yeah, Americans, in general, are STUUUUUUUUUPID.

Yeah, we're in a declining nation and it's probably not going to get better anytime soon.

[–] nickiwest 3 points 1 hour ago

Username checks out along with the math.

[–] aesthelete 2 points 2 hours ago

You might be downvoted but you're absolutely correct.

[–] khannie 16 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I actually consider this really positive on a few fronts.

Firstly, people are trying to learn. That's great.

Oligarchy is not a common word if your English level isn't great and that's true for lots of people. Even if you read books a decent amount it's not something I think you'd come across frequently.

Also, for folks who don't know what an oligarchy is, for them to find out they're possibly living in one may change their world view.

I'm sure there are more.

[–] spookedintownsville 1 points 7 minutes ago

Honestly, I am one of those idiots. I had to look up oligarchy myself, although I looked it up because it was being thrown around a bit on Lemmy, not because Biden said it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

That's a very... generous interpretation, but I'll "allow it", because it gives me some hope.

[–] khannie 4 points 2 hours ago

Gotta keep that hope up!

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 hours ago (1 children)
[–] projectsquared 4 points 3 hours ago

Twice in November.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 hours ago

We knew that since Dexter Manly went to college illiterate