The wealth of America’s billionaires, as measured in the Fidelity Charitable Gift Report and Forbes’ 400 list, is starkly at odds with President Joe Biden’s assertion that the United States is not an “oligarchy”. In a 2019 interview, Biden stated, “This is a democracy, we’re not an oligarchy.”
However, since taking office, the wealth of some of America’s most prominent billionaires has skyrocketed. According to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Report, the combined net worth of the top 100 billionaires in the US increased from $2.1 trillion in 2020 to $3.6 trillion in 2021.
The top 10 billionaires, including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg, saw their collective wealth increase by $700 billion in just one year. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, saw his wealth alone increase by $200 billion.
Two of the wealthier individuals on the list, John Arnold and Tom Steyer, have strong ties to Biden. Arnold, a former and Steyer, a current, supporter of the President, have respectively. Their combined net worth increased by $533 billion in 2021.
Despite this clear data, Biden has continued to argue that the US is not an oligarchy. When asked about the report’s findings, the White House merely stated, “The President is committed to reducing income inequality and increasing economic mobility for all Americans.”
In reality, the wealth concentration among the top 1% has only continued to worsen under Biden’s administration. The term “oligarchy” refers to a form of government where power is held by a small group of people, and the Fidelity Charitable Gift Report and Forbes’ 400 list suggest that the US may best be described as such.