The outgoing president was right, in his farewell address, to warn of the dangers posed by the billionaires around the table

Aristocrats are “the most difficult Animals to manage, of anything in the whole Theory and practice of Government. They will not suffer themselves to be governed,” John Adams warned, writing after his presidency. Banning titles was insufficient; a few would still be distinguished by birth or, especially, wealth. The problem was not just their ability to buy political favours but the grip that their money had on people’s minds.

Economic and political power entwine everywhere. Fear of the rich’s outsized influence has existed throughout US history. Yet at times the relationship becomes especially stark and threatening. On Wednesday, Joe Biden evoked the 19th-century Gilded Age and the robber barons – who crushed competitors, exploited workers, bought judges and politicians, and flaunted wealth – in his warning against oligarchs.

In his parting words from the Oval Office, the president talked up his achievements: “The seeds are planted, and they’ll grow, and they’ll bloom for decades to come.” It is true that he received insufficient credit for the strengthened economy, green investment, massive healthcare expansion and his management of the Covid disaster that he inherited from Donald Trump, alongside his support for Ukraine. But his carelessness towards Palestinian lives in Gaza and his refusal to stand aside sooner – extraordinarily, he still maintains that he could have beaten Mr Trump – contributed to the Democrats’ defeat.

What resonated, however, was his alarm call as he warned of the “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people”, adding: “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.”