With the recent changes in the American government, such as President-Elect Donald Trump being inaugurated, Former President Joe Biden gave a farewell address on January 15, 2025. It is customary that every president gives a farewell address before leaving office, reflecting on their time as president and their hopes for the future of the United States.
Joe Biden had multiple important points in his speech, noting what he has done for the American economy. Biden stated, “we have launched a new era of American possibilities: one of the greatest modernizations of infrastructure in our entire history,”. He goes to detail what has been created and achieved to better the economy in his time as president.
Other notable things he discussed during the speech are the Russia-Ukraine conflict of 2022, the Israel-Hamas war, and the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. If you want more information on his discussion of these topics, the transcript for the farewell address can be found here.
Towards the middle of the speech, Biden stated, “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.” This raised many questions from the American public. What does this mean? What is an oligarchy?
An oligarchy is, by definition, a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution. In the case of the United States, whose government was based on the ideas of popular sovereignty, or the power in the hands of the people, an oligarchy goes directly against what the founding fathers intended when writing the Constitution.
Oligarchies are based around an elite group of people that govern and make decisions for the rest of the country. Biden stated, “that’s the 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.” This insinuates that the “elites” controlling the country are the businessmen, the CEOs that make tremendous amounts of money, such as Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg.
It is true that CEOs of large companies such as Amazon and Meta hold astronomically more power than the average American. For example, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently funded $65 million to power AI goals and AI production this year which will further fuel the research of artificial intelligence.
But will this money power cause an oligarchy to take form? Large CEOs of companies have incredible power in both influencing the public and funding programs of their own personal interest, which gives them significant control over the economic landscape of the United States.
Multiple sources even pointed out that at President Trump’s inauguration, he was surrounded by wealthy CEOs and billionaires. This potentially warns of the American government moving to a focus on wealth and status, which is truly an oligarchy.
Oligarchies have existed before, the textbook example being the Post-Soviet Russian government. After the fall of the Soviet Union and its economy, a small group of businessmen sought to use this to their advantage, and Russia’s quick transition from socialism to capitalism played a huge role in the creation of these oligarchs.
With a weakened Russian government that could not enforce laws or control intense inflation rates, the oligarchs gained immense amounts of money in less than two decades. During Boris Yeltsin’s two terms as president of Russia, he was supported by the oligarchs because he created an economic and political landscape where anything goes–which contributed to lasting corruption within the government.
However, after his resignation and the beginning of President Vladimir Putin’s time as president, these oligarchs have been taken out of seats of political power, whether it be by trial or being forced out of Russia.
While this oligarchy no longer exists, it stands as precedent that billionaires should not control a country. Especially not the United States, which was built on the concept of popular sovereignty, and a government based on the “will of the people”.
So what can be expected in the future? It is true that the Trump Administration has a number of goals that have elitist undertones. Many policy goals are built on a foundation that will benefit wealthy individuals, which could in theory form an oligarchy, whether intended or not.
The best way to stay informed on these topics is to read credible news sources and keep up with current events. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.”.
