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What is an oligarchy and is Biden right to call it a threat to US democracy? | The super-rich
Joe Biden delivered an ominous message to Americans in his 15 January farewell address, warning that a privileged few could soon be poised to wield enormous power in the US.
Biden described a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked”.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.
While Biden’s speech prompted polarized responses from each end of the political spectrum, his comments about wealth inequality are backed by data. The richest 1% of Americans possess more wealth than the bottom 90%.
The ultra-rich have long donated to Democrats and Republicans alike – Donald Trump is not unique in enjoying support from mega-wealthy donors – but there are signs the leaders of the technology sector could hold outsize influence with him. He appointed the Tesla founder and X owner, Elon Musk, to head a new agency called Doge, the “department of government efficiency”. And tech heads who control much of the flow of information to Americans have cultivated relationships with Trump – such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
What is oligarchy? And does America count as one? We asked political science experts to explain.
What does ‘oligarchy’ mean?
In an oligarchy, “power is held by a group of people on the basis of their wealth, noble or religious status, military rank, and so forth”, said Jonathan Hanson, a political scientist and lecturer at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy. Hanson said the term is also “used to describe countries where a small group of people just have a lot of power even if they do not formally rule”.
Why did Biden suggest the US might be slipping into an oligarchic age?
“In three words/names: Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos,” Daniel Kinderman, an associate professor in comparative politics and international relations at the University of Delaware. “Biden is worried that we are heading towards a narrower and tighter concentration of political, economic, technological and media power, a new and more dangerous kind of oligarchy than what we have had in the past.”
Kinderman said that because the “online universe” can shape “what we [think we] know and how we think and what we think”, tech moguls are able to wield a particular kind of influence.
“If that power is concentrated and only on one side, or if it’s only aligned with one set of interests, we are in very serious trouble, and we may soon be there if the tech CEOs align themselves very tightly with the new Trump administration.”
Does the US have the hallmarks of an oligarchy?
Political scientists pointed to America’s dramatic wealth gap in assessing Biden’s warning that the US could become an oligarchy. “Constitutionally, the United States remains a representative democracy,” Hanson said.
But wealth is concentrated, he said. The top 1% of US households hold nearly 30% of wealth in this country – whereas the bottom 50% hold about 2.5%. And wealth can buy power. The US supreme court’s decision in Citizens United means that outside groups, and wealthy persons, can in effect dump limitless funds into US elections.
“The conjunction of enormous wealth with the ownership of social media companies, and the obvious efforts of these billionaires to curry favor with President Trump, is rightfully setting off alarm bells,” Hanson said.
Kinderman voiced similar sentiments.
“The United States is a country of very extreme inequality. When it comes to income and wealth inequality, the US has the hallmarks of an oligarchy,” he said. “Sadly, policymaking in most countries is skewed towards the elite, but this tendency is even more pronounced in the United States than in many comparable rich countries.” One analysis of wealth inequality among countries found that the US was more comparable to Africa – which, along with Latin America, was one of the two regions with highest wealth inequality – than to Europe.
What does this have to do with plutocracy?
According to Chuck Collins, director of the program on inequality and the common good at the Institute for Policy Studies: “An oligarchy is a society governed by a few. A plutocracy is a society governed by the wealthy. We have the signs of both.”
What other countries are oligarchies?
Hanson said that there are elements of oligarchy in Russia, Hungary and Iran. “In the former two countries, there is a network of ties between political leadership and wealthy business owners. These oligarchs control large parts of the economy and benefit from lucrative government contracts. In exchange, they provide support for the political leadership.”
By contrast, “in Iran, the oligarchy is formed by religious leaders”.
Do oligarchies ever transform into democracies?
“Absolutely,” Matt Simonton, a professor at Arizona State University who wrote Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History, said. In Athens during the late fifth century BCE, there was a short time that saw two oligarchic coups d’etat. The second oligarchy was helmed by a cohort that became known as the “Thirty Tyrants”.
“They didn’t do a good job,” Simonton said. “They ruled very briefly and [were] overthrown in a civil war.”
The Athenians gave amnesty to most of the oligarchs and subsequently returned to democracy – which was “very stable” for nearly 100 years. “It happened a lot,” Simonton said of political cycling. “They had to deal with civil war and reconciliation all the time.”
An oligarchy is a form of government where a small group of people, typically the wealthy elite, hold power and control over the government and economy. This small group of individuals often use their wealth and influence to manipulate policies and decisions in their favor, leading to a system that benefits the few at the expense of the many.In recent years, there has been growing concern about the rise of oligarchy in the United States. President Joe Biden has even gone as far as calling it a threat to US democracy. Critics argue that the increasing concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small elite is undermining the principles of democracy and creating a system that is inherently unfair and unequal.
Biden’s concerns are not unfounded, as studies have shown that the super-rich have an outsized influence on politics and policy-making in the US. From campaign donations to lobbying efforts, the wealthy elite have the resources to shape legislation and regulations to their advantage, often at the expense of the average American.
While some may argue that calling out oligarchy as a threat to democracy is an exaggeration, it is important to recognize the dangers of allowing a small group of individuals to wield disproportionate power and influence over our government. As citizens, we must remain vigilant and push for policies that promote equality and fairness, rather than perpetuating a system that benefits only the wealthy few.
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#oligarchy #Biden #call #threat #democracy #superrichLetter: I’m more concerned about AI development than the U.S. becoming an oligarchy – InForum
Much has been said about the tech billionaires at Trump’s inauguration. I, like others, am concerned that we are moving closer to an oligarchy with all these wealthy people so close to President Trump.
But where I part company with many, I am glad our leaders in technology have the ear of President Trump when it comes to artificial intelligence.
I believe our future as a society and a country is at stake if our adversaries (mainly China) beat us in the full development of AI. This may sound like science fiction, but it is here and now.
Remember the Manhattan Project, the World War II atomic bomb project aimed at developing the first nuclear weapons to prevent Nazi Germany from acquiring them first. Experts a lot smarter than me are warning that the full development of AI, is much bigger than the Manhattan Project.
I, for one, want our best and brightest working on the development of AI. We must beat our adversaries in this development. I believe those tech billionaires at the Trump inauguration should be at the front of AI development with the United States government.
Social media and artificial intelligence are here to stay. I am not excited about the opportunity for Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg to make billions more from AI, but I am more concerned that China may one day control access to our national security, military defense, and personal lives.
We are so dependent on technology 24/7 that our country needs bright-minded Americans to win the biggest challenge ahead: the race for the full development of artificial intelligence.
Vern Thompson lives in Fargo.
Dear Editor,I am writing to express my deep concern about the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential consequences for society. While the possibility of the United States becoming an oligarchy is certainly troubling, I believe that the unchecked advancement of AI poses an even greater threat to humanity.
AI has the potential to revolutionize industries, improve efficiency, and enhance our quality of life. However, there are also significant risks associated with its development. From job displacement to ethical dilemmas surrounding AI decision-making, the implications of a world dominated by intelligent machines are vast and complex.
As we continue to push the boundaries of AI technology, it is crucial that we prioritize ethics, transparency, and accountability in its design and implementation. We must also consider the potential impact of AI on our economy, social structures, and individual freedoms.
While the rise of oligarchy in the U.S. is certainly a cause for concern, I believe that the potential consequences of unregulated AI development are even more alarming. As a society, we must come together to address these issues and ensure that AI is developed in a way that benefits all of humanity, rather than just a select few.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
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#Letter #concerned #development #U.S #oligarchy #InForumThe Tech Oligarchy Arrives – The Atlantic
On the day of Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, a group of his top billionaire donors, including the casino magnate Miriam Adelson and the future Republican National Committee finance chair Todd Ricketts, hosted a small private party, away from the publicly advertised inaugural balls.
It was the sort of event that carried no interest at the time for the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He greeted Trump’s first presidency by publicly identifying his wife’s parents and his own ancestors with the immigrants targeted by Trump’s early executive orders. “These issues are personal for me,” Zuckerberg wrote in a public letter of concern a week after Trump took office.
But this month, as the same donors made plans for Trump’s second inauguration, Zuckerberg successfully maneuvered to become a co-host of their black-tie event, scheduled for tonight. The party quickly became one of the most sought-after gatherings of the weekend, overwhelming organizers with RSVPs from people who had not received invitations.
Even more striking: Zuckerberg sat in front of Trump’s incoming Cabinet in the Capitol Rotunda at his inauguration—at the personal invitation of Trump himself, according to two people briefed on the plans who, like some other sources interviewed for this story, requested anonymity to describe private conversations. (A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment.)
Zuckerberg was not alone. Trump’s inauguration events featured a Silicon Valley smorgasbord, with leaders from Apple, Google, and TikTok in attendance, as well as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk. Several of the tech moguls also joined a small prayer service this morning at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Later, they blended in with the Trump clan directly behind the incoming president as he officially assumed power just after noon, like honorary family members.
The scene announced a remarkable new dynamic in Washington: Far more so than in his first term, the ultra-wealthy—and tech billionaires in particular—are embracing Trump. And the new president is happy to entertain their courtship, setting up the possibility that Trump’s second turn in the White House could be shaped by person-to-person transactions with business and tech executives—a new kind of American oligarchy.
Eight years ago, Trump landed in Washington in a fit of defiance, denouncing in his inaugural address “the American carnage” wrought by “a small group in our nation’s capital.” Four years later, he left as an outcast, judged responsible for the U.S. Capitol riot and a haphazard attempt to undo the constitutional order. He returns this week with a clean sweep of swing states and the national popular vote, the loyal support of Republicans in Congress, and the financial backing of corporate donors who are expected to help the inaugural committee raise twice what it did in 2017. Organizers of the Women’s March, which stomped on Trump’s 2017 inauguration by sending hundreds of thousands of protesters to the streets, settled for a series of unremarkable Saturday gatherings. The Democratic opposition, which treated Trump’s first term as an existential threat, now lacks an evident strategy or leader.
Like nearly every entity that has tried and failed to bend Trump to its will—his party, his former rivals, his partners in Congress, and his former aides among them—the tech elites largely seem to have decided that they’re better off seeking Trump’s favor.
Just months ago, Trump released a coffee-table photo book that included a pointed rant about Zuckerberg’s $420 million donation in 2020 to fund local election offices during the coronavirus pandemic, an undertaking that Trump called “a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT.” “We are watching him closely,” Trump wrote of Zuckerberg, “and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
But since Trump’s victory, Zuckerberg has worked to get himself in the new president’s good graces. The Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago; added a Trump pal to his corporate board; extolled the importance of “masculine energy” on Joe Rogan’s podcast; abandoned the Meta fact-checking program, which MAGA world had viewed as biased; and personally worked with Trump to try to resolve a 2021 civil lawsuit over Facebook’s decision to ban him from the platform, a case that legal experts once considered frivolous.
Bezos, meanwhile, worried aloud in 2016 that Trump’s behavior “erodes our democracy around the edges” and spent his first term taking fire from the president for the aggressive reporting of The Washington Post, the newspaper that Bezos owns (and where, until recently, we both were reporters). Now Amazon, like Meta, has given $1 million to the 2025 inaugural committee, and the company recently announced it would release a documentary about, and produced by, the first lady, Melania Trump. Even Musk, who spent more than $250 million last year to elect Trump and now is one of his top advisers, called for the aging Trump to “sail into the sunset” as recently as 2022.
“In the first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump marveled at a mid-December news conference. “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”
The sheer quantity of money flowing to, and surrounding, Trump has increased. In his first term, he assembled the wealthiest Cabinet in history; this time, his would-be Cabinet includes more than a dozen billionaires. Sixteen of his appointees come not just from the top one percent, but from the top one-ten-thousandth percent, according to the Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy organization. Democrats, too, have long kept their wealthiest donors close, inviting them in on policy discussions and providing special access, but never before have the nation’s wealthiest played such a central role in the formation of a new administration.
As recently as last week, before the inauguration proceedings were moved indoors because of cold weather, a donor adviser got a last-minute offer of $500,000 for four tickets, according to the person who fielded the call and had to gently decline the request. Trump’s 2017 committee raised $107 million, more than twice the 2013 record set by Barack Obama, and spent $104 million. So far this year, the 2025 inaugural committee is expected to raise at least $225 million and spend less than $75 million on the inaugural festivities, according to a person familiar with the plans. At least some of the unspent tens of millions could go to Trump’s presidential library, several people involved with fundraising told us.
Trump’s first inauguration had all the markings of a hastily arranged bachelor party put on someone else’s credit card. Trump’s company and the 2017 inaugural committee ultimately paid $750,000 to the District of Columbia to settle claims of illegal payments, including allegations of inflated charges to a Washington hotel then owned by Trump. (Neither entity admitted wrongdoing.) This time, the inauguration organizers have been more disciplined, and donors have been eager to reward Trump’s victory.
“People were prepared, so when he did win, Trump was looking for checks,” a person involved in all of the Trump campaigns and both inaugural events told us. “Once Elon got in there, that was kind of the holy water that allowed all the other tech guys to follow. They all followed each other like cattle.”
What wealthy donors could get in return for their support of Trump remains an open question. Zuckerberg’s, Bezos’s, and Musk’s federal business interests include rocket-ship and cloud-computing contracts, a federal investigation of Tesla’s auto-driving technology, a pending Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against Meta, and a separate antitrust case against Amazon. Just last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Musk for allegedly failing to disclose his early stake in Twitter, the social-media giant he later took over and renamed X. (A lawyer for Musk has said he did “nothing wrong.”) When Trump promised in his inaugural address to “plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” the cameras panned to Musk, whose SpaceX is racing Bezos’s Blue Origin; Musk raised both thumbs and mouthed “Yeah!” as he broke into an ebullient grin.
Existing federal ethics rules were not designed to address the possibility of the world’s wealthiest people padding the pockets of the first family through television rights or legal settlements. The Trump family’s recently announced cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, creates yet another way for the wealthy to invest directly in an asset to benefit the commander in chief. “There is no enforcement mechanism against the president under these laws,” Trevor Potter, a former general counsel for the late Arizona Senator John McCain’s campaign, told us.
Even as Silicon Valley elites try to ingratiate themselves with the incoming president, some of Trump’s populist supporters are murmuring that the emerging tech oligarchy is diluting the purity of the MAGA base. Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Trump who has clashed in recent weeks with Musk over immigration policy, has fashioned himself as the field general for a fight against the tech bros and their outsize influence on a president eager to cut deals.
“He’s got them on display as ‘I kicked their ass.’ I’m stunned that these nerds don’t get anything to be up there,” Bannon told us last week, referring to the tech leaders appearing in prime camera position at Trump’s inauguration. “It’s like walking into Teddy Roosevelt’s lodge and seeing the mounted heads of all the big game he shot.”
For now, the ragtag populist figures like Bannon who defined Trump’s early years in politics are still celebrating. Roger Stone, the convicted and subsequently pardoned Trump kibitzer, attended inauguration events in his anachronistic morning suit—with plans for evening white tie. The British MP Nigel Farage hosted a party Friday at the Hay-Adams hotel, while former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson managed to get a ticket for the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
On Thursday, Bannon threw his own party, titled “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” or “A New Order of the Ages,” at Butterworth’s club on Capitol Hill. Drinks included, perhaps predictably, the Covfefe Martini (vodka, Fernet, espresso) and the Im-Peach This (gin, peach, Cocci Americano). Bannon arrived fashionably late and was followed from the moment he ducked through the door by a mob of iPhone documenters, and even a man with a flashbulb. He received an impromptu line of frenzied well-wishers that one British journalist quipped was “as if for the Queen.”
As seared foie gras and freshly shucked oysters moved through the room, Bannon urged his supporters to “set new lows tonight,” reminding them that once Trump took the oath of office on Monday, “then the real fun happens.”
“You have two to three days to get sober,” he exhorted. “Go for it!”
The tech barons also fanned out through the city in celebration. The next night, across town, Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, dined at Georgetown’s new hot spot, Osteria Mozza, sitting at a window table with leaders of the Post. On Saturday, Palantir and the PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel hosted a party at his Woodley Park mansion; a bow-tied and mop-topped Zuckerberg arrived before the sun had fully set. And yesterday, Trump called Musk up onstage during his pre-inauguration rally inside the Capital One Arena—“C’mere, Elon!” he growled—briefly ceding the spotlight to the Tesla executive and his young son X.
During the 2024 election, many liberals and some conservatives feared that Trump’s second term would usher in a new kind of American autocracy, à la Hungary. But on its first day, at least, Trump’s new administration seems, more than anything else, oligarchal—albeit one where the transactions mainly flow one way, at least so far.
“They’re lining up to obey in advance. because they think they’re buying themselves peace of mind,” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism who has been critical of Trump, told us. But, added Ben-Ghiat, who noted the overlap between autocracy and oligarchy: “They can give that million and everything can be fine—but the minute they displease Trump, he could come after them.”
In a recent article published by The Atlantic, it has been revealed that a new era of tech oligarchy is upon us. With the rise of massive tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, a small group of powerful individuals now hold unprecedented control over our digital and physical worlds.This concentration of power has far-reaching implications for society, as these tech giants have the ability to shape our online experiences, influence our purchasing decisions, and even manipulate political outcomes. The unchecked power of these tech oligarchs raises serious concerns about privacy, democracy, and economic inequality.
As we navigate this new landscape, it is crucial that we hold these tech giants accountable and demand greater transparency and regulation. The future of our society depends on our ability to challenge the growing influence of the tech oligarchy and ensure that the power remains in the hands of the people.
Stay tuned to The Atlantic for more updates on this important issue. #TechOligarchy #TheAtlantic #PowerToThePeople
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#Tech #Oligarchy #Arrives #AtlanticWhat is an oligarchy? Biden warns the US risks centralizing power
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden in his Wednesday farewell speech to the nation warned that American democracy was sliding into an “oligarchy” of tech billionaires. But what exactly is an oligarchy?
What is an oligarchy?
In short, an oligarchy is an elite few who control the government’s actions.
By using the pointedly negative term “oligarchy,” Biden equated this moment — when the world’s wealthiest men are feting President-elect Donald Trump — with some of history’s more brutal regimes.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to cohost a Trump inaugural reception with wealthy Republican donors next week. Amazon Prime Video, which was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, got exclusive licensing rights to stream and theatrically release first lady Melania Trump ‘s new documentary.
Meta, Amazon and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last month donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. And billionaire Elon Musk’s super PAC spent around $200 million to help elect Trump.
But Biden made a complicated assertion as both Republicans and Democrats have relied on Silicon Valley fortunes to boost their political ambitions.
What are the term’s origins?
Like many words in politics, oligarchy originates from Ancient Greek and quite literally means that few command. But unlike an aristocracy, an oligarchy is more closely tied to wealth than nobility and family lineage.
The philosopher Aristotle wrote in his book “Politics” that “democracy is safer and more free from civil strife than oligarchy; for in oligarchies two kinds of strife spring up, faction between different members of the oligarchy and also faction between the oligarchs and the people.”
What are some examples of oligarchies?
Multiple countries have been labeled oligarchies by academics. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, former state assets and other institutions came under the control of increasingly wealthy businessmen who became known as billionaire oligarchs.
The mix of profits and politics that began under then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin gave way to crackdowns by President Vladimir Putin, who has his own favored oligarchs and pledged to let them keep their fortunes so long as they are loyal to him.
With its legacy of colonialism and powerful families, the Philippines has been accused of being an oligarchy, with its former President Rodrigo Duterte claiming to have dismantled the system. Critics said he simply gave preferences to a different set of oligarchs.
Apartheid-era South Africa was also seen by some academics as having a white racial oligarchy.
Even before Biden’s speech, the rising wealth gap in the United States — as well as in China — raised concerns about whether the world’s two largest economies were becoming oligarchies.
Associated Press writers Lindsey Bahr and Dan Merica contributed reporting.
In recent remarks, President Joe Biden warned of the dangers of oligarchy and the risk of centralizing power in the United States. But what exactly is an oligarchy?An oligarchy is a form of government in which power is concentrated in the hands of a small, elite group of individuals or families. These individuals typically control the government, economy, and society, often to the detriment of the majority of the population.
Oligarchies can take various forms, including authoritarian regimes, plutocracies (where the wealthy hold power), and aristocracies (where power is inherited). In these systems, the ruling elite often use their wealth and influence to maintain their power and suppress dissent.
President Biden’s warning about the dangers of oligarchy comes at a time when income inequality in the US is at its highest levels in decades, and the influence of wealthy individuals and corporations in politics is a growing concern. Biden has called for policies to address these issues, such as increasing taxes on the wealthy and implementing campaign finance reform.
As the US grapples with the challenges of inequality and the concentration of power, it is important for citizens to remain vigilant and advocate for a more equitable and democratic society. Only by recognizing and addressing the dangers of oligarchy can we ensure a more just and fair system for all.
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#oligarchy #Biden #warns #risks #centralizing #power‘Oligarchy 2.0’: Experts weigh in on whether Biden’s warning about wealthy justified
President Joe Biden’s farewell address included a stark warning about the danger of what he called abuses by the ultra-wealthy, particularly what he called the “tech-industrial complex.”
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” he said Wednesday night.
President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 2025.
Mandel Ngan, Pool via Reuters
“I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well,” he said.
Biden’s remarks came as President-elect Donald Trump has strengthened his ties with Big Tech executives such as Elon Musk, co-chair of his outside-government commission to recommend spending cuts, as well as with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.
Trump has invited all three of the powerful CEOs to his Monday swearing-in ceremony, now moved to be inside the Capitol Rotunda.
Historians and economic experts told ABC News that Biden’s warning echoes a long-building problem that people on both sides of the aisle are already sensing.
“When you have the three richest men in the country on the dais … you cannot overlook how much influence the billionaire has on the government,” Sarah Anderson, global economy project director for the non-profit research group Institute for Policy Studies, told ABC News.
In this Nov. 19, 2024, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images, FILE
While it is too early to determine how the public will respond to Biden’s warning, the experts who spoke with ABC News contended that history has shown that Americans have traditionally pushed back against oligarchies, and in some instances, businesses have been forced to scale back their influence with government and political leaders to escape economic consequences.
Turbocharged oligarchy
Daniel Kinderman, associate professor of political science at the University of Delaware who has researched how businesses respond to right-wing populism, said current income inequality in the United States constitutes “oligarchic conditions.”
“Since the late 2000s, the top 1% of Americans, roughly 3 million people, have owned upwards of one-third of the wealth and capital in our country. It’s now about 35%. The bottom 50% of Americans, which is about 150 million people, own about 1.5% of wealth,” he said.
Biden likened the current situation to the “robber barons” and industrial monopolies of the 19th century. Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other leaders on Capitol Hill have welcomed the alliances with the tech CEOs, particularly Musk, contending that their ideas will help to make the government more “efficient.”
While acknowledging the corporate elite has always influenced government, Kinderman noted that the country is now in uncharted territory because the current top CEOs have more control over the public discourse.
“There is a sense in the business community that there should be efficiency and that the government should have that same goal,” he said. “There definitely is a role there for [the CEOs], but what you don’t want is for them to write their own rules that just benefit their own industry.”
In this Sept. 25, 2024, file photo, Mark Zuckerberg speaks about Meta AI during the Meta Connect conference in Menlo Park, Calif.
Godofredo A. Vasquez/AP, FILE
Musk and Zuckerberg have scaled back and removed content moderation tools against misinformation on their social media sites X and Facebook following criticism from Trump, who was banned from their platforms after the Jan. 6 attack by a pro-Trump mob on the U.S. Capitol.
In recent interviews, they have also expressed more conservative viewpoints.
Bezos and other CEOs have come under fire for removing DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — initiatives, a target of conservative scorn.
“This is oligarchy 2.0,” Kinderman said. “It’s kind of a turbocharged technological oligarchy that has control over media and technology.”
Jonathan Hanson, a political scientist and lecturer in statistics at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, told ABC News that Musk’s deep involvement with Trump, from the campaign trail to his appointment to DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, the outside advisory board aimed at cutting government waste, has been largely unprecedented.
The fate of government agencies and billions in spending could be in the hands of Musk and fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, he noted.
“This goes beyond influence, this is close control to government matters to someone who wasn’t elected,” Hanson said.
In this Nov. 19, 2024, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk as he arrives to attend a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images, FILE
Hanson and the other experts warned that the consequences are not going unnoticed, especially among those who voted for Trump.
Public pushback inevitable
While Trump and the tech CEOs have not immediately responded to Biden’s speech and warning, early search data indicate it has sparked interest in oligarchies.
Google searches for the term oligarchy rose sharply after Biden’s speech and have remained higher than usual throughout the week, according to data from the search engine.
Eight of the 10 states that saw the most rise in searches for oligarchy as of Friday afternoon were Republican “red” states, including Wyoming, Arizona and Oklahoma, according to Google data.
President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 2025.
Roberto Schmidt/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
“It has gotten some attention across the political spectrum,” Kinderman said of Biden’s warning. “It could have a bit of an impact especially if things move in a direction that a lot of Americans perceive as problematic.”
Hanson agreed, noting that exit polling has shown many people who voted for Trump said they were most concerned about the cost of living and income inequality. Candidate Trump cast himself as the champion of the working class.
“There are a lot of people who voted for Trump feeling the economy was better under his first term, and they will feel alienated by his allegiances,” he said. “If he continues his policies from the first administration that don’t tackle inflation and benefit the CEO class, people will notice.”
New labor movement?
During his speech, Biden noted that Americans stood up to oligarchs in the past by rising up and forming labor unions.
“They didn’t punish the wealthy. They just made the wealthy … play by the rules everybody else had to. Workers won rights to earn their fair share,” he said.
Anderson predicted similar pushback not only when it comes to organized labor movements, which she said have grown and gained support in the last few years, but also in consumer choices, something that could hurt the CEOs’ companies.
In this June 19, 2017, file photo, Jeff Bezos, president and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., right, speaks as President Donald Trump, left, and Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., listen during the American Technology Council roundtable hosted at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
She noted that over 250,000 people ended their Washington Post subscriptions after Bezos vetoed the paper’s planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Millions of social media users have fled Meta platforms and X for other social media sites since they rolled back their content moderation policies, according to Anderson.
In this June 29, 2024, file photo, a demonstrator shows a sign with the words ”A minimum wage of at least $15+/Hour, Moving up to a living wage” among other informative texts during the Poor People’s March on Pennsylvania Ave in Washington D.C.
Aashish Kiphayet/Sipa USA via AP, FILE
“There is an aura around these billionaires, and when people connect the power of these oligarchs to the harmful impacts on everyday lives, people will change quickly,” she said.
How long will this alliance last?
Kinderman said the real test will come if Trump or Republican congressional leaders cross ethical lines that are perceived to harm the public. He noted that CEOs, including Musk, and businesses backed out of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum in 2017 after he left the Paris climate agreement and after Trump’s comments following the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club, on Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
“It’s anyone’s guess really, but will the administration’s agenda clash with some powerful American business interests? It’s quite radical, so I think it almost certainly will,” Kinderman said. “The new oligarchs are in a strong position, and they seem to be allied with Trump, but that alliance could break.”
In recent remarks, President Joe Biden warned about the growing influence of the wealthy elite in American society, calling it a form of “Oligarchy 2.0”. This has sparked a debate among experts about whether Biden’s concerns are justified.Some experts argue that Biden’s warning is indeed warranted, pointing to the increasing concentration of wealth and power among a small group of individuals and corporations. They point to data showing that the top 1% of Americans now own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined, and argue that this level of inequality is detrimental to democracy and social cohesion.
Others, however, are more skeptical of Biden’s claims. They argue that while income inequality is a pressing issue, it does not necessarily equate to an oligarchy. They point to the fact that America is still a democracy with free and fair elections, and that wealthy individuals and corporations do not have unchecked power.
Ultimately, the question of whether Biden’s warning about a “Oligarchy 2.0” is justified is a complex and nuanced one. It is clear that income inequality is a significant issue that needs to be addressed, but whether it constitutes a true oligarchy is up for debate. As the conversation continues, it is important for policymakers and citizens alike to consider the implications of growing wealth inequality and its impact on our democracy.
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#Oligarchy #Experts #weigh #Bidens #warning #wealthy #justifiedJoe Biden’s Farewell Speech: “An Oligarchy Is Taking Shape”
George Washington’s farewell address, a long valedictory letter written largely by Alexander Hamilton, and published in Claypoole’s Daily Advertiser, in September, 1796, was an eloquent rationale for his departure from public life and for the need for peaceful transitions of power. Washington’s centrality as a leader of the Revolution and as the first President had the effect of making him seem irreplaceable, kingly. In the spirit of a “parting friend,” he warned against such regard for a leader and the factional and institutional threats that might undermine a fledgling democracy.
In modern times, most Presidents use the occasion of a farewell for rote self-justification, a summary of accomplishments, gestures of gratitude. It is, in other words, almost uniformly dull. The exceptions—from Dwight D. Eisenhower’s caution against a growing “military-industrial complex,” in 1961, to Richard Nixon’s rhetoric of self-pity in the face of his resignation and disgrace, in 1974—are rare.
On Wednesday night, Joe Biden delivered his last address from the Oval Office. Much of the speech was hackneyed in its rhetoric and weary in its delivery. Biden is leaving office not merely with understandable exhaustion but with pangs of barely concealed bitterness. He continues to believe that, were it not for the betrayals in his own party, he could have won reëlection, but no one could watch his final performance at the Resolute desk and think that he could go on in the job, no matter how much one dreads the dreadful alternative. In a low and papery voice, Biden shifted from one subject to the next—from the perils and the prospects of artificial intelligence to the persistence of freedom in Ukraine—giving each subject a flat sentence or two. As Los Angeles burns, climate change warranted little more than a couple of lines.
And yet one passage in Biden’s remarks stood out and should echo with the same lasting resonance as Eisenhower’s prescient admonition more than half a century ago. What Biden was intent on describing was quite real, even self-evident by now, but to hear it from a President was startling.
“I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous concern. And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people,” Biden said. “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
Watching Biden, I was reminded of a moment, in December, 1990, when the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, stood before the assembled grandees of the government, the Communist Party, the military, and the K.G.B., and said, “Dictatorship is coming. I tell you that with full responsibility. No one knows what this dictatorship will be like, what kind of dictator will come to power, and what order will be established.” A few sentences later, Shevardnadze announced his resignation, and let his words linger in the hall. In less than a year, those forces, led by the K.G.B., put President Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest, sent tanks into Moscow, and seized power—until it was seized back, three days later. (Dictatorship, of course, eventually arrived, hand in hand with oligarchy, in post-Soviet Russia.)
Biden, in delivering his stark warning about the course of power in the United States, was reserved, unspecific. He made no direct mention of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, or other tech billionaires who have sought the favor of the incoming President. He offered no dissection of the pro-Trump libertarianism that has become the prevailing ideology of so much of Silicon Valley. There was no detailed description of the way that the nascent American oligarchy differs from the more developed, more unchallenged forms of oligarchy in Russia or China. But to hear Biden, who ran for the Presidency not as a democratic socialist or a social democrat but as a centrist in the party, speak out against the gathering signs of oligarchy has meaning. Immense dark-money contributions already infect both major parties. Thirteen of Donald Trump’s key Administration appointees are billionaires. Two of them, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, are entering the Administration promising to cut trillions of dollars in “inefficiencies.”
This sombre week has also made it plain that Trump has bolstered his Administration of fat cats with gaudy and alarmingly under-equipped mediocrities. Of Pete Hegseth’s alleged behavior with women and in proximity to a bottle, much has been published. Hegseth’s lame denials (“Anonymous smears!”) in that regard were as expected as they were galling. Even more spectacular was his lack of competence, capacity, or knowledge. When Senator Tammy Duckworth asked Hegseth about ongoing international negotiations, he was clueless: she asked him to name which countries are in ASEAN, the union of countries in Southeast Asia with which the U.S. has crucial business, and he was forced to plead ignorance. He hadn’t done the reading before class—which is fine for a weekend host on Fox News, but less desirable for a candidate to be the day-to-day leader of the most powerful military in the world at a moment of extraordinary tension and transformation.
Biden is leaving office with a considerable policy legacy that is badly marred by his failure to limit himself to one term. The cost is apparent: a second Trump Administration that is quickly making itself clear in character and in policy. It is to Biden’s credit, though, that in his farewell address he was at pains to warn against what is “taking shape,” a uniquely American form of oligarchy that threatens the democratic spirit that runs through the valedictory of his most distant predecessor.
In his farewell speech as President of the United States, Joe Biden delivered a stark warning to the American people: “An oligarchy is taking shape.”Biden, who served as the 46th President of the United States, expressed his concerns about the growing influence of powerful corporations and wealthy individuals in shaping government policies and decision-making.
“Over the course of my time in office, I have witnessed firsthand the erosion of our democracy as big money and special interests continue to exert undue influence over our political system,” Biden said.
He emphasized the importance of protecting democracy and ensuring that all voices are heard, not just those with deep pockets. Biden urged Americans to remain vigilant and hold their elected officials accountable for their actions.
“As I pass the torch to the next administration, I implore you to stay engaged, stay informed, and continue fighting for a government that truly represents the will of the people,” Biden concluded.
His farewell speech served as a powerful reminder of the ongoing struggle to preserve democracy in the face of growing inequality and corporate power. As Biden warned, the time to act is now before it’s too late.
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#Joe #Bidens #Farewell #Speech #Oligarchy #ShapeBiden delivers farewell address, warns of ‘oligarchy’ taking shape in America
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden used his farewell address to the nation Wednesday to deliver stark warnings about an “oligarchy” of the ultra-wealthy taking root in the country and a “tech-industrial complex” that is infringing on Americans’ rights and the future of democracy.
Speaking from the Oval Office as he prepares to hand over power Monday to President-elect Donald Trump, Biden seized what is likely to be his final opportunity to address the country before he departs the White House to spotlight the accumulation of power and wealth in the U.S. among just a small few.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said, drawing attention to “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
Invoking President Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the rise of a military-industrial complex when he left office in 1961, Biden added, “I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well.”
Biden used his 15-minute address to offer a model for a peaceful transfer of power and — without mentioning Trump by name — raise concerns about his successor.
It marked a striking admonition by Biden, who is departing the national stage after more than 50 years in public life, as he has struggled to define his legacy and to steel the country against the return of Trump to the Oval Office. This time, the president, who has repeatedly called Trump a threat to the nation’s system of governance, went even further, warning Americans to be on guard for their freedoms and their institutions during a turbulent era of rapid technological and economic change.
Biden sounded the alarm about oligarchy as some of the world’s richest individuals and titans of its technology industry have flocked to Trump’s side in recent months, particularly after his November victory. Billionaire Elon Musk spent more than $100 million helping Trump get elected, and executives like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have donated to Trump’s inaugural committee and made pilgrimages to Trump’s private club in Florida for audiences with the president-elect as they seek to ingratiate themselves with his administration and shape its policies.
While President Joe Biden saw through legislative successes while in office, his presidency was marked by inflation, war and a consequential bid for reelection. (AP Video by Mike Pesoli)
Biden’s speech in the Oval Office is the latest in a series of remarks on domestic policy and foreign relations he has delivered that are intended to cement his legacy and reshape Americans’ grim views on his term. Earlier in the day, he heralded a long awaited ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which could end more than a year of bloodshed in the Middle East.
“It’ll take time to feel the full impact of what we’ve done together but the seeds are planted and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come,” Biden said. It was a tacit acknowledgement that many Americans say they have yet to feel the impact of his trillions of dollars spent on domestic initiatives.
At the same time that Biden was criticizing social media companies for retreating from fact-checking on their platforms, Trump’s incoming communications director and press secretary were sharing posts on X that falsely claimed the president had delivered a prerecorded speech. Biden has blamed his poor standing with the public on misinformation on social media and the challenges he has faced reaching voters in the disaggregated modern media ecosystem.
Biden offered his own set of solutions for the problems that he laid out: change the tax code to ensure billionaires “pay their fair share,” eliminate the flow of hidden sources of money into political campaigns, establish 18-year term limits for members of the Supreme Court and ban members of Congress from trading stocks. His policy prescriptions come as his political capital is at its nadir as Biden prepares to exit the national stage, and after he has done little to advance those causes during his four years in power at the White House.
Federal Reserve data shows the wealthiest 0.1% of the country combined holds more than five times the wealth of the bottom 50% combined.
Biden isn’t leaving the White House in the way that he hoped. He tried to run for reelection, brushing aside voters’ concerns that he would be 86 years old at the end of a second term. After stumbling in a debate with Trump, Biden dropped out of the race under pressure from his own party, and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee.
The speech Wednesday night capped not just Biden’s presidency but his five decades in politics. He was once the country’s youngest senator at 30 years old after being elected to represent his home state of Delaware in 1972.
Biden pursued the presidency in 1988 and 2008 before becoming Barack Obama’s vice president. After serving two terms, Biden was considered to be retired from politics. But he returned to center stage as the unlikely Democratic nominee in 2020, successfully ousting Trump from the White House.
As he highlighted his own commitment to ensuring a peaceful transition of power, including holding briefings with Trump’s team and coordinating with the incoming administration on the Middle East negotiations, Biden also called for a constitutional amendment to end immunity for sitting presidents. That came in response to a Supreme Court ruling last year that granted Trump sweeping protections from criminal liability over his role in trying to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden.
Biden spoke from the Resolute desk, photos of his family visible behind him in the Oval Office. First lady Jill Biden, his son Hunter, some of his grandchildren, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, sat watching.
As Biden spoke about Harris, saying she’d become like family, the first lady reached over and grabbed her hand.
In a poignant farewell address, President Joe Biden warned of the dangers of an “oligarchy” taking shape in America. As his time in office comes to an end, Biden expressed his concerns about the growing influence of wealthy elites in shaping the country’s policies and priorities.Throughout his presidency, Biden has been a vocal advocate for policies that benefit working-class Americans and combat income inequality. In his farewell address, he urged the American people to remain vigilant against the encroachment of oligarchical power and to continue fighting for a more equitable and just society.
Biden’s words serve as a stark reminder of the challenges facing our democracy and the importance of maintaining a government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people. As he prepares to pass the torch to his successor, Biden’s message serves as a rallying cry for all Americans to work together to ensure that our democracy remains strong and vibrant in the face of growing threats from powerful interests.
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