Thursday, January 16, 2025
PMT: Biden's farewell
With almost a week to go, it seems a little early for a farewell speech, but that is what we got from President Biden last night. Part of what he warned of was the growing power of the super-rich. He's right about that, of course, but unfortunately did little to address wealth disparities (or even talk about it) during the heart of his presidency. That was, after all, Bernie Sanders' issue, and Bernie was right (as was Elizabeth Warren, who often talked about the same thing). It's a little late to come to the side he defeated in the primaries back in 2020.
He also warned about a "tech-industrial complex," which seems to be a play on Eisenhower's reference to a "military-industrial complex" in his own farewell. The problem is that Eisenhower's term made sense (the military and its suppliers in industry really were a dangerous and powerful influence) while "tech-industrial" doesn't make much sense because there is not the same kind of combination between tech and industry (beyond the extent to which tech IS an industry). Tech doesn't much care where industry is, after all-- here or in Europe or in China. Tech has a fundamental interest in internationalism and free markets, while industry has a fundamental interest in protected markets. They don't align in the way Biden suggests.
Of course, the power of tech companies is real, but also is a field of rapid innovation and real competition (at least for now).
In the end, Biden never found a theme that worked for him and the American people. He hit a good one at the end-- the dangers of a super-wealthy class-- but he was new to that game and had pushed aside those who were best at presenting that narrative.
