Running the World

by Contributor | January 20, 2025 8:15 am

The lame-duck President made his farewell to the nation. President Joseph will no longer be “running the world,” as he told ABC News. He left many in Oswego and in the nation disillusioned. Joseph campaigned as the most pro-union candidate in history. One of his most infamous laws made rail strikes illegal. Yet, under his administration, big oil, big gas, big banks, and the weapons industry made record profits. The New York Times said “Under Mr. Biden’s administration, the United States is currently producing more oil than any nation at any time in history.” The UN’s Global Assessment Report stated “the world is effectively bankrolling its own destruction.” The NOAA explained, “by adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, people are… causing global temperature to rise.” The World Meteorological Organization recorded the grim milestone of “41.6 billion tonnes” of carbon dioxide emissions last year. Joseph’s approval of the Willow oil drilling project would act as a “carbon bomb,” as NPR reported. The Willow oil drilling project will “worsen climate change,” and undue any climate victories Joseph touted. In essence, Joseph was anti-worker, anti-humanity, and pro-handouts for huge corporations. Joseph warned against an oligarchy he proudly served. Inquality.org detailed the concentration of wealth and power by a few. “America’s richest 1 percent of households averaged 139 times as much income as the bottom 20 percent.” Joseph’s campaign promise, reported by Axios, to not “‘demonize’ the wealthy,” was one of the only promises that rang true. He didn’t raise the national minimum wage to $15. It remains at an abysmal $7.25. The Economic Policy Institute demonstrated real working wages remained stagnant for decades. “Our country has suffered from rising income inequality,” while “wages were suppressed by policy choices made on behalf of those with the most income, wealth, and power.” That’s domestic. In the foreign policy realm, Joseph’s human rights administration cozied up to dictatorships. The New York Times wrote “Prioritizing U.S. national security interests over human rights, the Biden administration has approved $235 million in military aid for Egypt.” The Times stated Egypt “has been ruled by a repressive military government for a decade.” The dictatorship receives “$1.3 billion in military aid,” yearly from Washington. This was standard practice. The journal Foreign Policy wrote about Joseph’s attempt to court the “world’s longest-serving dictator” in Equatorial Guinea. Joseph sidestepped a “43-year record of corruption and grave rights abuses by feting the dictator.” Freedom House ranked the Saudi dictatorship as one of the “worst of the worst.” Its human rights abuses put many authoritarian regimes to shame. Not the Biden Administration. We supported dictatorships around the world, like the one in Bahrain. The Associated Press provided the reason. “The U.S. military long has safeguarded Saudi Arabia from external enemies, in exchange for Saudi Arabia keeping global oil markets afloat.” Time Magazine put it best. Joseph’s administration placed “interests [of power] before [human] values.” He enriched the few and kicked the rest in the face. That’s how you run the world.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/running-the-world/

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