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How Do Plutocracies End?
How America might escape a damaging spiral
Is America a plutocracy?
Probably. But what is a plutocracy?
Most simply, plutocracy means rule by wealth — from ploutos (wealth) and kratos (power) in ancient Greek, although the term originated not in Greece but in seventeenth-century England.
Some have used the term to mean a conspiracy of the wealthy, imagining a bunch of billionaires in leather armchairs sipping fine liquors and orchestrating the course of world history. But, more commonly, when people describe a plutocracy, they’re describing a society in which the rich get what they want. Sometimes it’s because the wealthiest among us are actively trying to secure their preferred outcomes. But often it’s because the gravitational force of their wealth creates advantages for them that even the wealthy can’t always see.
The degree to which we are a plutocracy can be assessed in various ways: Do wealthy children have access to better education and opportunities for success? Do wealthy people have more access to the government, and are their interests more often represented in the laws passed by that government? When the economy grows, do the economic rewards end up disproportionately in the pockets of the already-rich?
