Biden warns of tech oligarchy; who are the richest Americans?
In President Joe Biden’s farewell speech Wednesday, he warned of the dangers of an oligarchy of the rich gaining power.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom,” said Biden.
Biden, 82, referred to these billionaires as a “tech-industrial complex” and warned of a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people” that could hold “dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
But, what is an oligarchy and who are America’s richest?
What is an oligarchy?
An oligarchy is a form of government in which a small group of people are in relative control. Often based on wealth, oligarchies can exist within larger political systems like a constitutional republic, but they typically restrict participation to those in power and limit broader democratic influence.
President Joe Biden’s warning seemed to reference people such as tech billionaire Elon Musk, a staunch supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, or Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerburg, both of whom have made recent attempts to improve their relations with the incoming president.
Tech billionaires, including Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg lead the list of the wealthiest Americans.
Top 10 wealthiest people in America
According to the daily Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk is the world’s richest person with an estimated total net worth of $450 billion, nearly doubling the combined net worth of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
Of the 10 richest people in the world, nine are American and only two work outside the tech industry.
Here are the 10 richest Americans:
- Elon Musk, 53, Tesla, SpaceX: $450 billion net worth
- Jeff Bezos, 61, Amazon: $242 billion net worth
- Mark Zuckerburg, 40, Facebook/Meta: $218 billion net worth
- Larry Ellison, 80, Oracle: $186 billion net worth
- Larry Page, 51, Google: $173 billion net worth
- Sergey Brin, 51, Google: $163 billion net worth
- Bill Gates, 68, Microsoft: $159 billion net worth
- Steve Ballmer, 68, Microsoft: $148 billion net worth
- Warren Buffett, 94, Berkshire Hathaway: $144 billion net worth
- Michael Dell, 59, Dell Technologies: $120 billion net worth
In the category of wealthiest athlete, Michael Jordan and Vince McMahon have the highest net worth at over $3 billion each.
Directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are at the top of the celebrity billionaires list worth over $4.8 billion each.
The 500 richest people in the world, according to Bloomberg’s list, have all amassed at least $6 billion.
The size of one billion is bigger than it seems. A baby born yesterday has lived just over 100,000 seconds. A 12-day old child has seen 1 million seconds. But someone celebrating their 32nd birthday today has finally experienced 1 billion seconds.