Oligarchy Taking Shape In America,” Says President Joe Biden In Farewell Address

Outgoing US President Joe Biden warned Americans about a “dangerous concentration of power” among a few wealthy people in the United States and urged them to “stand guard” against threats from oligarchs, disinformation and AI in a future under Donald Trump as he delivered a farewell address on Wednesday ahead of stepping down next week.In a brief Oval Office speech, the Democrat touted his achievements in steering the US economy out of the deep crisis inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic and said he had made the nation’s alliances abroad stronger.In a veiled reference to incoming President Trump’s close ties to billionaire Elon Musk and other tycoons, he said an “oligarchy is taking shape in America” — and “a dangerous concentration of power.””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.He said the ultra-rich people around Trump represent a concentration of “extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy.”Recalling the warning issued by former president Dwight Eisenhower in his own farewell address in 1961 about the dangers of an out-of-control military-industrial complex, he said, “I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex.”