BIDEN WARNS OF RISE OF AMERICAN OLIGARCHY IN FAREWELL ADDRESS TO NATION

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Bernama-AA) -- In his likely last Oval Office address, outgoing United States (US) President Joe Biden warned Wednesday that an increasingly small billionaire class is exerting growing influence over the nation in what threatens to become an oligarchy that could upend democratic norms, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

"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 a 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," he said.

In sounding the alarm, Biden invoked President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in 1961 used his farewell address to draw attention to the growing influence of what he called the military-industrial complex on American democracy.

Biden said a similar threat is now being presented by what he termed the "tech-industrial complex," saying he is "equally concerned" by its potential rise.

The warning comes after billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help elect President-elect Donald Trump.

Musk is now reportedly slated to have a White House office as he heads a Trump initiative alongside Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy to make sweeping budget cuts across the federal workforce.

Musk will be joined by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the inauguration stage Monday when Trump is sworn into office for his second term. Both Bezos and Zuckerberg donated millions to Trump's inaugural committee.

Biden made special mention of efforts to roll back fact-checking at social media companies, a likely allusion to policies instituted at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram after Trump won office. A similar policy was imposed by Musk after he took over Twitter, now known as X.

"Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power,"

"The free press is crumbling. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families, and our very democracy from the abuse of power,” he added.

-- BERNAMA-AA