President Biden, in his final address to the nation as President, warned citizens against the danger of living in an oligarchy: “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 was not the first President to warn of this danger. John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, wrote the following:
“9 July 1813
“Your “
” [aristocrats] are the most difficult Animals to manage, of anything in the whole Theory and practice of Government. They will not suffer themselves to be governed. They not only exert all their own Subtilty Industry and courage, but they employ the Commonalty, to knock to pieces every Plan and Model that the most honest Architects in Legislation can invent to keep them within bounds. Both Patricians and Plebeians are as furious as the Workmen in England to demolish labour-saving Machinery.
“But who are these “
a Collection of Moral Sentences from all the most Ancien[t] Greek Poets. In one of the oldest of them I read in greek that I cannot repeat, a couplet the Sense of which was
“‘Nobility in Men is worth as much as it is in Horses Asses or Rams: but the meanest blooded Puppy, in the World, if he gets a little money, is as good a man as the best of them.’ Yet Birth and Wealth together have prevailed over Virtue and Talents in all ages. The Many, will acknowledge no other “
Most Americans are unfamiliar with the word “oligarchy” since the Republic has tried very hard since its inception to convey the sense of equality best expressed in Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. It would be years before any American President emphasized the idea of equality over that of freedom. Lincoln did so in his second Inaugural Address. For the first time, an American President declared that slavery was incompatible with the values of the American people, notwithstanding the inclusion of slavery in the Constitution.
An oligarchy is a political system in which the wealthy direct the machinery of government to protect and enhance their interests as opposed to the interests of the citizenry. Brooke Harrington, a Sociology Professor at Dartmouth College wrote this for the Washington Post at the beginning of Trump’s first term:
“There are no laws against a president and his super-wealthy Cabinet using their power to benefit their own class. There is nothing that compels them to look beyond their privilege to address the needs of the citizenry.
“The problem with these prospective leaders is not their money. It’s that they — like Trump — seem more interested in what their country can do for them than in what they can do for their country.”
The concentration of wealth in the second Trump administration is staggering. The following table gives an idea of how concentrated wealth has become in recent years. Many of the people listed, like Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg, have actively solicited Trump on various matters and represent business interests that clearly constitute conflicts of interest with a number of important policy issues like freedom of speech in a digital world.
| Rank | Name | Total net worth | Country |
| 1 | Elon Musk | $449B | US |
| 2 | Jeff Bezos | $245B | US |
| 3 | Mark Zuckerberg | $217B | US |
| 4 | Larry Ellison | $188B | US |
| 5 | Bernard Arnault | $188B | France |
| 6 | Larry Page | $174B | US |
| 7 | Sergey Brin | $163B | US |
| 8 | Bill Gates | $162B | US |
| 9 | Steve Ballmer | $149B | US |
| 10 | Warren Buffett | $146B | US |
| 11 | Michael Dell | $123B | US |
| 12 | Jensen Huang | $117B | US |
| 13 | Jim Walton | $114B | US |
| 14 | Rob Walton | $112B | US |
| 15 | Alice Walton | $111B | US |
| 16 | Amancio Ortega | $100B | Spain |
| 17 | Mukesh Ambani | $94.6B | India |
| 18 | Carlos Slim | $79.0B | Mexico |
| 19 | Gautam Adani | $76.0B | India |
| 20 | Julia Flesher Koch & family | $75.4B | US |
| Total | $3,083T |
Source: Bloomberg, “Bloomberg Billionaires Index”, 18 January 2025, accessed at: Bloomberg Billionaires Index, on 19 January 2025
Many of these people have contributed a great deal of money to Trump’s inauguration and several of them have been quite visible in the upcoming Trump Administration. We also have a hard time realizing exactly what these numbers represent: a billion of anything is far removed from anything we come into daily contact. One way to comprehend these numbers is to translate them into more accessible terms:
If someone made one million dollars a year, they would make about $480.77 per hour and $3,846.15 per day.
On the other hand, making a billion dollars per year would mean about $480,769 per hour and $3,846,153.85 per day.
These 20 individuals possess more wealth than most countries in the world. Indeed, there are only 7 countries with GDPs larger than $3 trillion:
| GDP (million US$) by country | |||||||
| Country/Territory | IMF | World Bank | United Nations | ||||
| Forecast | Year | Estimate | Year | Estimate | Year | ||
| World | 115,494,312 | 2025 | 105,435,540 | 2023 | 100,834,796 | 2022 | |
 United States | 30,337,162 | 2025 | 27,360,935 | 2023 | 25,744,100 | 2022 | |
 China | 19,534,894 | 2025 | 17,794,782 | 2023 | 17,963,170 | 2022 | |
 Germany | 4,921,563 | 2025 | 4,456,081 | 2023 | 4,076,923 | 2022 | |
 Japan | 4,389,326 | 2025 | 4,212,945 | 2023 | 4,232,173 | 2022 | |
 India | 4,271,922 | 2025 | 3,549,919 | 2023 | 3,465,541 | 2022 | |
 United Kingdom | 3,730,261 | 2025 | 3,340,032 | 2023 | 3,089,072 | 2022 | |
 France | 3,283,429 | 2025 | 3,030,904 | 2023 | 2,775,316 | 2022 | |
Source: Wikipedia “List of countries by GDP (nominal)”, accessed at: List of countries by GDP (nominal) – Wikipedia on 19 January 2025
There are 186 countries in the world with GDPs less than $3 trillion. The combined population of these countries comprises 56% of the global population. But 20 people have more wealth than each of the 186 countries.
Concentrations of wealth lead inevitably to a distorted political system. Adam Smith was well aware of the dangers of concentrated wealth to the public interest:
“Not only the prejudices of the publick, but what is much more unconquerable, the private interests of many individuals, irresistibly oppose it. Were the officers of the army to oppose with the same zeal and unanimity any reduction in the number of forces, with which master manufacturers set themselves against every law that is likely to increase the number of their rivals in the home market; were the former to animate their soldiers, in the same manner as the latter enflame their workmen, to attack with violence and outrage the proposers of any such regulation; to attempt to reduce the army would be as dangerous as it has now become to attempt to diminish in any respect the monopoly which our manufacturers have obtained against us. This monopoly has so much increased the number of some particular tribes of them, that, like an overgrown standing army, they have become formidable to the government, and upon many occasions intimidate the legislature. The member of parliament who supports every proposal for strengthening this monopoly, is sure to acquire not only the reputation of understanding trade, but great popularity and influence with an order of men whose numbers and wealth render them of great importance. If he opposes them, on the contrary, and still more if he has authority enough to be able to thwart them, neither the most acknowledged probity, nor the highest rank, nor the greatest publick services can protect him from the most infamous abuse and detraction, from personal insults, nor sometimes from real danger, arising from the insolent outrage of furious and disappointed monopolists.”
This pattern was present as the Roman Republic began its descent into dictatorship. It was also evident in 13th Century Venice and in late-19th Century America. It is happening again, not only in the US, but in India, Russia, China, the low-population oil producers such as Kuwait, and Brazil. It is difficult to see how democracy can persist under these conditions. Active steps must be taken to create a more just distribution of wealth globally.
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