it is Mr. Biden’s reinvigoration of the government’s role as the nation’s most important investor that may endure as a turning point in the nation’s political and economic history.
Investments, like saplings, do not yield immediate fruit, and Mr. Biden has struggled to generate public enthusiasm for these long-term strategies.
From the wikipedia article it says it was used by the sergeant-at-arms to retain order, and that those who ignored it would be arrested. Ceremonial in the fact that it was once used as a weapon long before as a way to whow authority.
But yea it’s always been for the rich.