U.S. presidents warning the American people about perceived threats in their farewell addresses has a long history. In fact it began with their first president. In his farewell, George Washington warned his people about narrow regional interests, political parties (which he disapproved of) and foreign influence in domestic affairs. More recently and most famously was President Dwight Eisenhower’s parting shot about the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

Now the most recent president has included a warning in his goodbye and a very timely one at that. President Biden evoked the Gilded Age and the robber barons, to warn his fellow Americans that “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.”

The U.S. does indeed seem to have become a billionaires’ playground. One can’t become president without them. In the recent election, at least 83 billionaires supported Harris and 52 backed Trump, and 5.5 billion dollars was spent by the candidates, political parties and independent interest groups You need billionaires to raise those billions. And they expect a return on their investment.

The new president, Mr. Trump, the man who is going to save Americans from the elites, has 13 billionaires in his cabinet. His best buddy is Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who he has appointed to head his department of government efficiency. Musk has promised Americans they will face “temporary hardship” as he cuts public spending.

As billionaires flock around the White House, inequality in the U.S. has returned to levels last seen in the Gilded Age, the period of gross inequality at the end of the 19th century. Incomes of the richest Americans have skyrocketed while worker pay lags productivity, and Wall Street bonuses soar while minimum wages stagnate. The top 0.1 percent of the population hold almost six times as much total wealth as the bottom 50 percent while the top marginal tax rate has shrunk from 70 percent in 1979 to just 37 percent in 2021.

The anger generated by the inequality of the Gilded Age brought about major reforms to the system. President Teddy Roosevelt weakened the oligarchs by trust-busting, creating regulatory agencies and putting land off limits to commercial exploitation. Social movements and progressive lawmakers levelled down through fair taxation and levelled up through increased unionization and other reforms. Unfortunately much of this progress has now been undone.

How will today’s gross and increasing inequality be challenged? How does the appropriate anger grow and how is the necessary consciousness raised? Wealth has always allowed the rich to control the narrative, but never to the extent that it does today. Think of billionaires such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg with their control over modern communication. Both now pander to President Trump and we know where his sympathies lie.

President Biden made a good start in re-structuring the American economy to be more favourable to the working class. The working class rewarded him by voting for Donald Trump which in itself says something about how the narrative is controlled.

Nonetheless, the basis is there. If his warning is heeded and his reforms survive, there is a strong foundation for the U.S. to progress toward a sustainable and fair society. If not …