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Guardian

Guardian

US Politics

US Politics

What is an oligarchy and is Biden right to call it a threat to US democracy?

Guardian
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74% Informative

Biden said a 'dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people' The richest 1% of Americans possess more wealth than the bottom 90% .

Political scientists pointed to America 's dramatic wealth gap in assessing Biden ’s warning that the US could become an oligarchy.

In Athens during the late fifth century BCE , there was a short time that saw two oligarchic coups d’etat.

The second oligarchy was helmed by a cohort known as the “Thirty Tyrants ” The Athenians gave amnesty to most of the oligarchs and subsequently returned to democracy which was “very stable” for nearly 100 years .