This week, Tom and Helen delve into Joe Biden’s farewell address, why he warned of a new tech oligarchy and the possible new epoch in American politics.
Discussion
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
Sadly, this video doesn’t play (Unherd seems to be having a lot of technical glitches recently). I very much hope they’ll fix the problem soon because I believe changing the format of Tom and Helen’s discussions from audio-only to a video format will expand the audience for this important part of Unherd’s offering. I have long enjoyed Tom and Helen’s weekly discussions of current affairs, but I am, like many people, more engaged by a video rather than solely audio format. Their discussions are interesting and informed, imo. They deserve a wider audience.
Hugh Bryant
19 days ago
Well, the two most powerful oligarchs in the US are George Soros and Larry Fink, who certainly don’t back Trump. So the thesis is somewhat moot, I’d say.
David Yetter
10 days ago
The Economist in its most recent issue had a critique of the notion that American tech moguls constitute an oligarchy. Looking at gross value added, rather than market capitalization, Amazon, Meta and Tesla constitute 1.8% of the US economy,and even adding in Apple and Google (not run by their founder-owner, but by a CEO hired by their board) one only gets to 3.1%. A better case for oligarchy could be made by looking at top fund managers as the oligarchs. I have seen a claim that 80% of the voting shares of American publicly held companies are voted not by their beneficial owners, but by the management of BlackRock, Fidelity, State Street and Berkshire Hathaway. I personally find Yanis Varoufakis’s notion that “techno-feudalism” has replaced capitalism unconvincing, the moreso have read The Economist‘s critique of the notion of an American oligarchy. Capitalism was already dead, the capitalists having been replaced by the professional managerial class, in 2008 when the professional managers in government saved the professional managers in finance from what should have been the market’s harsh rebuke of their dishonesty and cupidity.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeSadly, this video doesn’t play (Unherd seems to be having a lot of technical glitches recently). I very much hope they’ll fix the problem soon because I believe changing the format of Tom and Helen’s discussions from audio-only to a video format will expand the audience for this important part of Unherd’s offering.
I have long enjoyed Tom and Helen’s weekly discussions of current affairs, but I am, like many people, more engaged by a video rather than solely audio format. Their discussions are interesting and informed, imo. They deserve a wider audience.
Well, the two most powerful oligarchs in the US are George Soros and Larry Fink, who certainly don’t back Trump. So the thesis is somewhat moot, I’d say.
The Economist in its most recent issue had a critique of the notion that American tech moguls constitute an oligarchy. Looking at gross value added, rather than market capitalization, Amazon, Meta and Tesla constitute 1.8% of the US economy,and even adding in Apple and Google (not run by their founder-owner, but by a CEO hired by their board) one only gets to 3.1%.
A better case for oligarchy could be made by looking at top fund managers as the oligarchs. I have seen a claim that 80% of the voting shares of American publicly held companies are voted not by their beneficial owners, but by the management of BlackRock, Fidelity, State Street and Berkshire Hathaway.
I personally find Yanis Varoufakis’s notion that “techno-feudalism” has replaced capitalism unconvincing, the moreso have read The Economist‘s critique of the notion of an American oligarchy. Capitalism was already dead, the capitalists having been replaced by the professional managerial class, in 2008 when the professional managers in government saved the professional managers in finance from what should have been the market’s harsh rebuke of their dishonesty and cupidity.