An oligarchy is emerging in the USA, in the form of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our democracy, fundamental rights, and freedoms, said Biden, sitting at the desk in the Oval Office, in the White House.
We are seeing a very dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-rich individuals, claimed Biden and warned of the consequences if the abuse of power is allowed.
The Soul Threatened
In a letter to Americans, prior to the speech, Biden wrote that he stood for re-election in 2024 because the soul of the USA, what Americans stand for and believe in, is threatened. The threat remains, according to him.
Joe Biden dropped out of the attempts to be re-elected last summer after a very weak performance in a duel with Donald Trump and left it to Vice President Kamala Harris to try to win against Trump. But on January 20, it is Trump who takes over in the White House.
Biden seemed to particularly direct his criticism at the large tech companies. However, he did not mention the companies by name or the individuals at the top of the companies who are competing for the spots as the world's richest. Three of them, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and X-owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk – now a close adviser to Trump – are scheduled to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Musk donated billions to Trump's campaign and participated in it himself, and Bezos and Zuckerberg have courted Trump beforehand.
False Information
Biden recently criticized the announcement from Zuckerberg that Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, will stop with independent fact-checking and let the users handle it themselves. X, formerly Twitter, chose the same path a few years ago when Elon Musk bought the platform.
Americans are being buried under an avalanche of false information and disinformation, something that enables the abuse of power, said Biden, 82 years old and with five days left as president.
