There’s No Such Thing as a Good Billionaire
Democrats want us to believe that there is some cohort of “good billionaires” who can be relied upon to fight for political progress. But as the right-wing turn of tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk suggests, this is nonsense.
Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk attend the inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the US Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson – Pool / Getty Images)
Joe Biden said, in his farewell address:
I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of 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.
Biden’s parting comments have been hailed among liberals and leftists alike for its rare acknowledgment of oligarchy in the United States; Bernie Sanders, for example, praised him as “absolutely right” and added that the danger of oligarchy is “the defining issue of our time.”
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