August 2020

What a President Biden would mean for tech

A Biden presidency would put the tech industry on stabler ground than it's had with President Trump. Although Biden is unlikely to rein in those Democrats who are itching to regulate the big platforms, he'll almost certainly have other, bigger priorities. Democrats familiar with the Biden campaign's work on tech made these predictions:

Monopoly Myths: Is Concentration Leading to Fewer Start-Ups?

In the last few years, a number of pundits, advocates, and journalists have argued that market concentration has grown in the United States and that this has caused a precipitous decline in the number of business start-ups. In this narrative, “monopoly” is a sclerotic scourge, robbing the economy of its traditional dynamism and leading to a host of problems, including less innovation and slower job growth. But there is no statistical relationship between start-up creation and change in concentration by industry; high-growth start-up activity is healthy.

Adapting Jobs Programs for Today and Tomorrow

“Middle-skill” jobs make up a large portion of the market, has positions to fill, but suffers from a dearth of trained workers—especially when it comes to digital skills. Digital skills refer to a person’s ability to use digital tools, applications, and networks to access and manage information. Pandemic-driven unemployment will only put the middle-skill issue into sharper relief.

Creating Opportunity: New Jobs Require Digital Skills and Broadband

About one-third of the U.S. job market is made up of middle-skill jobs, which do not require four-year college degrees. Data indicate that the number of these jobs exceeds the supply of available workers. The skills needed for these jobs include facility with the internet and computers.

Biden’s FCC: Take a Number

As former Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) continues to rise in the polls, DC handicappers are seriously pondering who might be tapped for Federal Communications Commission chair in a Biden administration. Candidate Biden has already signaled his FCC will be restoring network neutrality rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization, but since it is an independent agency, he will need to pick an FCC chief who “independently” shares that philosophy. Biden has already signaled his vice president will be a woman. Odds are good his FCC chair could be as well.