By ZEKE MILLER, CHRIS MEGERIAN and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press
Biden warns in farewell address that ‘oligarchy’ of ultrarich in US threatens future of democracy
Updated: 10:04 PM EST Jan 15, 2025
My fellow Americans. I’m speaking to you tonight from the Oval Office. Before I begin, let me speak to important news from earlier today. After 8 months of nonstop negotiation. My administration, by my administration, *** ceasefire and *** hostage deal has been reached by Israel and Hamas. The elements of which I laid out in great detail in May this year. This plan was developed and negotiated by my team. And will be largely implemented by the incoming administration. That’s why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed. Because that’s how it should be. Working together as Americans. This will be my final address to you from the American people from the Oval Office, from this desk as President. And I’ve been thinking *** lot about who we are and maybe more importantly who we should be. Long ago in New York Harbor, an ironworker installed beam after beam, day after day. He was joined by steel workers, stonemasons, engineers. They built not just *** single structure, but *** beacon of freedom. The very idea of America was so big, we felt the entire world needed to see. The Statue of Liberty. *** gift from France after our Civil War. Like the very idea of America, it was built not by one person, but by many people from every background and from around the world. Like America, the Statue of Liberty is not standing still. Her foot literally steps forward atop *** broken chain of human bondage. She’s on the march and she literally moves. She was built to sway back and forth to withstand the fury of stormy weather, to stand the test of time because storms are always coming. She sways *** few inches, but she never falls into the current below. An engineering marvel. The Statue of Liberty is also an enduring symbol of the soul of our nation. *** soul shaped by forces that bring us together and by forces that pull us apart. And yet through good times and tough times. We’ve stood at all. *** nation of pioneers and explorers. Of dreamers and doers. Of ancestors native to this land of ancestors who came by force. The nation of immigrants came to build *** better life. *** nation Holding the torch the most powerful idea ever in the history of the world. That all of us, all of us are created equal, that all of us deserve to be treated with dignity, justice and fairness. That democracy must defend. And be defined and be imposed, moved. In every way possible, our rights, our freedoms, our dreams. But we know the idea of America, our institution, our people, our values that uphold it are constantly being tested. Ongoing debates about power and the exercise of power, but whether we lead by the example of our power or the power of our example. Whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power, or we yield to it. After 50 years at the center of all of this. I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions govern *** free society. The presidency, the Congress, the courts. *** free and independent press. Institutions that are rooted. Not they just might not reflect the timeless words, but they real they they echo the words of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Rooted in the timeless words of the Constitution, we the people. Our system of separation of powers, checks and balances. It may not be perfect, but it’s maintained our democracy for nearly 250 years. Longer than any other nation in history that’s ever tried such *** bold experiment. In the past 4 years, our democracy is held strong. And every day I’ve kept my commitment to be president for all Americans. To one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. I’ve had *** great partner and Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s been the honor of my life. To see the resilience of essential workers getting us through once in *** century pandemic. The heroism of service members and first responders, keeping us safe. The determination of advocates standing up for our rights and our freedoms. Instead of losing their jobs to an economic crisis that we inherited, millions of Americans now have the dignity of work. Mills of entrepreneurs and companies creating new businesses and industries, hiring American workers, using American products. Together, we’ve launched *** new era of American possibilities. One of the greatest modernization of infrastructure in our entire history, from new roads, bridges, clean water, affordable high-speed internet for every American. We invented the semiconductor, smaller than the tip of my little finger, and now it’s bringing those chip factories and those jobs back to America where they belong, creating thousands of jobs. Finally, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for millions of seniors. And finally doing something to protect our children and our families. By passing the most significant gun safety law in 30 years. And bringing violent crime to *** fifty-year low. Meeting our sacred obligation to over 1 million veterans so far, we’re exposed to toxic materials. And to their families, providing medical care and education benefits and more for their families. You know, It will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together. But the seeds are planted and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come. At home, we’ve created nearly 17 million new jobs, more than any other single administration, *** single term. More people have healthcare than ever before. And overseas we strengthen NATO. Ukraine is still free. And we pulled ahead of our competition with China and so much more. I’m so proud of how much we’ve accomplished together for the American people. And I wish the incoming administration success because I want America to succeed. That’s why I have held my duty to ensure *** peaceful and orderly transition of power, to ensure we lead by the power of our example. I have no doubt that America is in *** position to continue to succeed. That’s why my farewell address tonight. I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. This is *** dangerous and that’s *** dangerous concentration of power. In the hands of *** very few ultra wealthy people. 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 really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms. And *** fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America. And we’ve seen it before, more than *** century ago. But the American people stood up to the robber barons back then. And busted the trust. They didn’t punish the wealthy. This made the wealthy pay by play by the rules everybody else had. Workers want rights to earn their fair share. You know they were dealt into the deal. And help put us on *** path to building the largest middle class, the most prosperous century any nation in the world has ever seen. We’ve got to do that again. The last 4 years, that’s exactly what we’ve done. People should be able to make as much as they can, but pay, play by the same rules, pay their fair share of taxes. So much is at stake. Right now The existential threat of climate change has never been clear. Just look across the country from California to North Carolina. That’s why I signed the most significant climate and clean energy law ever, ever in the history of the world and the rest of the world is trying to model it now. It’s working Creating jobs and industries of the future. Now, we proved that we don’t have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy. We’re doing both. The powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we’ve taken to tackle the crime and crisis, to serve their own interests for power and profit. We must not be bullied in the sacrifice in the future, the future of our children and our grandchildren. Must keep pushing forward. Who push faster There’s no time to waste. It’s also clear that American leadership in technology is unparalleled, an unparalleled source of innovation. That can transform lives. We see the same dangers, the concentration of technology, power and wealth. You know, his farewell address, President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military industrial complex. He warned us then about, and I quote, the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power, end of quote. 6 days 6 decades later, I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of *** tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well. Americans are being buried. Under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation. Enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. 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 *** very democracy from the abuse of power. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time. Nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy and our security. Our society, it’s *** very for humanity. Artificial intelligence even has the potential to help us answer my call to end cancer as we know it, but unless safeguards are in place. AI could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy. How we work and how we protect our nation. We must make sure AI is safe and trustworthy. And good for all humankind. In the age of AI, it’s more important than ever that the people must govern. And as the land of liberty. America, not China, must lead the world in the development of AI. You know, in the years ahead, help to be it can be up to the president, the presidency, the Congress, the courts, the free press, and the American people. To confront these powerful forces. We must reform the tax code. Not by giving the biggest tax cuts to billionaires, but by making them begin to pay their fair share. We need to get dark money. That’s that hidden funding behind too many campaigns contributions. We need to get it out of our politics. We need to enact an 18-year time limit, term limit, time and term for the strongest ethics and the strongest ethic reforms for *** Supreme Court. We need to ban members of Congress from from trading stock while they’re in the Congress. We need to amend the Constitution to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. The President’s power is not limited. It’s not absolute, and it shouldn’t be. And in *** democracy, there’s another danger. To the concentration of power and wealth. It erodes the sense of unity and common purpose. It causes distrust and division. Participating in our democracy becomes exhausting and even disillusioning. And people don’t feel like they have *** fair shot. We have to stay engaged in the process. I know it’s frustrating. *** fair shot is what makes America America. Everyone’s entitled to *** fair shot, not *** guarantee, but just *** fair shot, and even playing field. Going as far as your hard work and talent can take you. We can never lose that essential truth, remain who we are. I’ve always believed And I’ve told other world leaders America can be defined by one word, possibilities. Only in America do we believe anything is possible. Like *** kid with *** stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont Delaware sitting behind this desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States. That’s the magic of America. It’s all around us. Upstairs in the residence of the White House. I’ve walked by *** painting of the Statue of Liberty. I don’t know how many times. In the painting, there are several workers climbing on the outstretched arm of the statue that holds the torch. Reminds me every day I pass it. Of the story and soul of our nation. And the power of the American prayer people. There’s *** story of *** veteran. This is *** veteran, *** son of an immigrant. Whose job was to climb that torch and polish the amber panes so rays of light could reach out as far as possible. He was known as the keeper of the flame. He once said of the Statue of Liberty. Quote, speaks *** silent universal language. One of hope that anyone who seeks and speaks freedom can understand. Yes, We sway back and forth to withstand the fury of the storm, to stand the test of time, *** constant struggle, constant struggle, *** short distance between peril and possibility. What I believe is the America of our dreams is always closer than we think. It’s up to us to make our dreams come true. Let me close. By stating my gratitude to so many people. To the members of my administration. As well as public service and first responders across the country and around the world. Thank you for stepping up to serve. To our service members and their families. It’s been the highest honor of my life to lead you as commander in chief. And of course to Kamala and her incredible partner. *** historic vice president. She and Doug have become like family and to me, family is everything. My deepest appreciation. Amazing first lady was with me in the Oval today. For our entire family. You’re the love of my life and the lifes of my love. My eternal thanks to you, the American people. After 50 years of public service. I give you my word. I still believe in the idea for which this nation stands. nation where the strengths of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. Now it’s your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. And you keep the faith. I love America. You love it too. God bless you all. May God protect our troops. Thank you for this great honor.
President Joe Biden used his farewell address to the nation Wednesday to deliver stark warnings of an “oligarchy” of the ultra-wealthy taking root in the country and of a “tech-industrial complex” that is infringing on Americans’ rights and the future of democracy.Watch Biden’s full address in the video player above.Speaking from the Oval Office as he prepares to hand over power Monday to President-elect Donald Trump, Biden seized what is likely to be his final opportunity to address the country before he departs the White House to spotlight the accumulation of power and wealth in the U.S. among just a small few.“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 said, drawing attention to “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people. Dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”Invoking President Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the military-industrial complex when he left office in 1961, Biden added, “I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well.”Biden used his 15-minute address to offer a model for a peaceful transfer of power and — without mentioning Trump by name — raise concerns about his successor.It marked a striking admonition by Biden, who is departing the national stage after more than 50 years in public life, as he has struggled to define his legacy against the return of Trump to the Oval Office. The president warned Americans to be on guard for their freedoms and their institutions during a turbulent era of rapid technological and economic change.Biden sounded the alarm about oligarchy as some of the world’s richest individuals and titans of its technology industry have flocked to Trump’s side in recent months, particularly after his November victory. Billionaire Elon Musk spent more than $100 million helping Trump get elected, and executives like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have donated to Trump’s inaugural committee and made pilgrimages to Trump’s private club in Florida for audiences with the president-elect as they seek to ingratiate themselves with his administration and shape its policies.Biden’s speech in the Oval Office is the latest in a series of remarks on domestic policy and foreign relations he has delivered that are intended to cement his legacy and reshape Americans’ grim views on his term. Earlier in the day, he heralded a long awaited ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which could end more than a year of bloodshed in the Middle East.“It’ll take time to feel the full impact of what we’ve done together but the seeds are planted and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come,” Biden said. It was a tacit acknowledgement that many Americans say they have yet to feel the impact of his trillions of dollars spent on domestic initiatives.At the same time that Biden was criticizing social media companies for retreating from fact-checking on their platforms, Trump’s incoming communications director and press secretary were sharing posts on X that falsely claimed the president had delivered a prerecorded speech. Biden has blamed his poor standing with the public on misinformation on social media and the challenges he has faced reaching voters in the disaggregated modern media ecosystem.Biden offered his own set of solutions for the problems that he laid out: change the tax code to ensure billionaires “pay their fair share,” eliminate the flow of hidden sources of money into political campaigns, establish 18-year term limits for members of the Supreme Court and ban members of Congress from trading stocks. His policy prescriptions come as his political capital is at its nadir as Biden prepares to exit the national stage, and after he has done little to advance those causes during his four years in power at the White House.Federal Reserve data shows the wealthiest 0.1% of the country combined holds more than five times the wealth of the bottom 50% combined. Biden isn’t leaving the White House in the way that he hoped. He tried to run for reelection, brushing aside voters’ concerns that he would be 86 years old at the end of a second term. After stumbling in a debate with Trump, Biden dropped out of the race under pressure from his own party, and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee.The speech Wednesday night capped not just Biden’s presidency but his five decades in politics. He was once the country’s youngest senator at 30 years old after being elected to represent his home state of Delaware in 1972.Biden pursued the presidency in 1988 and 2008 before becoming Barack Obama’s vice president. After serving two terms, Biden was considered to be retired from politics. But he returned to center stage as the unlikely Democratic nominee in 2020, successfully ousting Trump from the White House.As he highlighted his own commitment to ensuring a peaceful transition of power, including holding briefings with Trump’s team and coordinating with the incoming administration on the Middle East negotiations, Biden also called for a constitutional amendment to end immunity for sitting presidents. That came in response to a Supreme Court ruling last year that granted Trump sweeping protections from criminal liability over his role in trying to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden.Biden spoke from the Resolute desk, photos of his family visible behind him in the Oval Office. First lady Jill Biden, his son Hunter, some of his grandchildren, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, sat watching.As Biden spoke about Harris, saying she’d become like family, the first lady reached over and grabbed her hand.
WASHINGTON —President Joe Biden used his farewell address to the nation Wednesday to deliver stark warnings of an “oligarchy” of the ultra-wealthy taking root in the country and of a “tech-industrial complex” that is infringing on Americans’ rights and the future of democracy.
Watch Biden’s full address in the video player above.
Speaking from the Oval Office as he prepares to hand over power Monday to President-elect Donald Trump, Biden seized what is likely to be his final opportunity to address the country before he departs the White House to spotlight the accumulation of power and wealth in the U.S. among just a small few.
“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 said, drawing attention to “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people. Dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
Invoking President Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the military-industrial complex when he left office in 1961, Biden added, “I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well.”
Biden used his 15-minute address to offer a model for a peaceful transfer of power and — without mentioning Trump by name — raise concerns about his successor.
It marked a striking admonition by Biden, who is departing the national stage after more than 50 years in public life, as he has struggled to define his legacy against the return of Trump to the Oval Office. The president warned Americans to be on guard for their freedoms and their institutions during a turbulent era of rapid technological and economic change.
Biden sounded the alarm about oligarchy as some of the world’s richest individuals and titans of its technology industry have flocked to Trump’s side in recent months, particularly after his November victory. Billionaire Elon Musk spent more than $100 million helping Trump get elected, and executives like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have donated to Trump’s inaugural committee and made pilgrimages to Trump’s private club in Florida for audiences with the president-elect as they seek to ingratiate themselves with his administration and shape its policies.
Biden’s speech in the Oval Office is the latest in a series of remarks on domestic policy and foreign relations he has delivered that are intended to cement his legacy and reshape Americans’ grim views on his term. Earlier in the day, he heralded a long awaited ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which could end more than a year of bloodshed in the Middle East.
“It’ll take time to feel the full impact of what we’ve done together but the seeds are planted and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come,” Biden said. It was a tacit acknowledgement that many Americans say they have yet to feel the impact of his trillions of dollars spent on domestic initiatives.
At the same time that Biden was criticizing social media companies for retreating from fact-checking on their platforms, Trump’s incoming communications director and press secretary were sharing posts on X that falsely claimed the president had delivered a prerecorded speech. Biden has blamed his poor standing with the public on misinformation on social media and the challenges he has faced reaching voters in the disaggregated modern media ecosystem.
Biden offered his own set of solutions for the problems that he laid out: change the tax code to ensure billionaires “pay their fair share,” eliminate the flow of hidden sources of money into political campaigns, establish 18-year term limits for members of the Supreme Court and ban members of Congress from trading stocks. His policy prescriptions come as his political capital is at its nadir as Biden prepares to exit the national stage, and after he has done little to advance those causes during his four years in power at the White House.
Federal Reserve data shows the wealthiest 0.1% of the country combined holds more than five times the wealth of the bottom 50% combined.
Biden isn’t leaving the White House in the way that he hoped. He tried to run for reelection, brushing aside voters’ concerns that he would be 86 years old at the end of a second term. After stumbling in a debate with Trump, Biden dropped out of the race under pressure from his own party, and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee.
The speech Wednesday night capped not just Biden’s presidency but his five decades in politics. He was once the country’s youngest senator at 30 years old after being elected to represent his home state of Delaware in 1972.
Biden pursued the presidency in 1988 and 2008 before becoming Barack Obama’s vice president. After serving two terms, Biden was considered to be retired from politics. But he returned to center stage as the unlikely Democratic nominee in 2020, successfully ousting Trump from the White House.
As he highlighted his own commitment to ensuring a peaceful transition of power, including holding briefings with Trump’s team and coordinating with the incoming administration on the Middle East negotiations, Biden also called for a constitutional amendment to end immunity for sitting presidents. That came in response to a Supreme Court ruling last year that granted Trump sweeping protections from criminal liability over his role in trying to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden.
Biden spoke from the Resolute desk, photos of his family visible behind him in the Oval Office. First lady Jill Biden, his son Hunter, some of his grandchildren, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, sat watching.
As Biden spoke about Harris, saying she’d become like family, the first lady reached over and grabbed her hand.
