WASHINGTON—The U.S. faces a coming reign of rich oligarchs, retiring Democratic President Joe Biden warned the nation in his January 15 farewell address. And unless the people resist, he declared, we’ll lose our democracy.
Biden didn’t name names, but he didn’t have to do so. His predecessor and successor, Republican Donald Trump, is an oligarch himself, and has filled his prospective Cabinet with rich corporate colleagues—some of them with sketchy backgrounds.
And lurking behind convicted felon Trump, pulling the leash to make the incoming president bark, is Elon Musk, reportedly the world’s richest person. Musk is a multibillionaire who’s creating monopolies in social media and who’s virulently anti-worker and anti-union—traits Trump shared when the two had a public tete-a-tete during the presidential campaign.
“I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern,” Biden declared. “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.
“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. We see the consequences all across America. And we’ve seen it before.
“More than a century ago, the American people stood up to the robber barons and busted the trusts. They didn’t punish the wealthy. They just made the wealthy play by the rules everybody else had.
“Workers want rights to earn their fair share. You know, they were dealt into the deal”—via FDR’s New Deal, though Biden didn’t say so—“and it helped put us on the path to building the largest middle class, the most prosperous century any nation the world has ever seen. We’ve got to do that again.”
Biden, the last president who can remember growing up under FDR, has denounced the rich before, but not at such length.
The election returns showed more votes for the oligarch, Trump, than for Biden’s VP, Kamala Harris. Some of those voters were so pressed by immediate economic concerns that they found focusing on any other issue very difficult and they went out and voted for what they hoped would be change. Not mentioned but implied by the criticism of the power of the oligarchs is that economic democracy brought about by living wages, the right to organize and health care is also important in the struggle to get people to fight for democracy.
The oligarchs would have people, rather than fighting for economic democracy as well as political democracy,believe that anyone can become rich the United States.
Oligarchy extends to lawmakers
The oligarchy Biden warned about is not just in the looming Trump government. Congress is festooned with millionaires, past and present. That includes Biden. The president often discusses his working-class roots. But he earned millions of dollars in book royalties in recent years, after 36 years in the Senate and eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president. The four-year gap between then and his presidency gave Biden that opportunity to cash in.
And Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has benefitted from expensive and expansive “gifts” from two Republican heavyweights, Harlan Crow and Tony Novelli.
In first comments, e-mailed and posted on twitter/X, unions and their allies praised Biden, but for reasons other than his attack on oligarchy. None mentioned his attack on the corporate class.
“There’s been no greater champion for unions and working people in the White House than President Joe Biden,” the AFL-CIO tweeted. “He used every tool in his toolbox to create good union jobs, defend our right to organize, and invest in our economic security. Thank you, President Biden.”
The federation accompanied that with a photo montage, including a shot of Biden walking a UAW picket line during the union’s successful Stand Up strike against the Detroit-based automakers, GM, Ford and Stellantis, formerly FiatChrysler.
The Electrical Workers (IBEW) tweeted, “At every step of the way, Joe Biden stood with the #IBEW from investing in good jobs to defending the right to organize. Thanks to our partnership with Pres. Biden, the IBEW and the labor movement is growing stronger every day, lifting up working people across the nation.”
“The achievements of the last four years were nothing less than historic and we are deeply grateful for President Biden’s leadership,” said Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a union-environmental coalition the Steelworkers co-founded.
“Because of his efforts we have seen the beginnings of a manufacturing renaissance after years of decline, our supply chains are once again growing, more than 360,000 lead pipes have been replaced, more and more workers are building careers in the clean energy sector–the list goes on.
“Because of President Biden’s leadership, our nation is well on its way to a clean economy that works for all. Our greatest hope is to see that momentum continue. Thank you, President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
Only the Service Employees called out the oligarchs, in a tweet just after Biden’s speech. “Republicans are pushing for more Trump tax cuts that give YOU less than a dollar a day, while the richest 0.1% pocket your annual salary. And how do they plan to fund this? By ripping away your health care. We see the priorities, and they’re not with working people,” SEIU said.
Biden didn’t mention the Trump-GOP tax cut for corporations and the rich in his 20-minute address re-reciting his administration’s achievements. But he did argue the rich should pay their fair share of the costs of running the government on behalf of all of us—a theme SEIU also pushes.
Biden spent most of his speech discussing his administration’s domestic achievements in fields ranging from restoring the economy after the coronavirus pandemic wrecked it—and the jobs of millions of workers—to launching the country into combatting climate change. Trump promises to undo them.
Biden also returned to the anti-oligarch theme. The nation, he said, has “ongoing debates about power and the exercise of power. About whether we lead by the example of our power or the power of our example. Whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power, or we yield to it.”
“After 50 years at the center of all of this…believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society: The presidency, the Congress, the courts, a free and independent press.”
By contrast, Trump has said he wants to be a dictator “on day one” after his January 20 inauguration. And he shows contempt, disdain and anger at the other institutions Biden cited. All, he said, plus checks and balances, “are rooted in” the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
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