College of Political Knowledge

What the Hell is plutonomy?

In recent months we have all been exposed to the OWS movement….the 99% vs the 1%…..we all have strong opinions on the nature of the beast…….but there is a word that describes this happening……and that word is plutonomy.

Now that we know what to call it…..what is it specifically?

A plutonomy is a form of capitalism that is designed to make the rich who control a nation’s government and its economy—aka, the plutocrats—even richer. Cornerstone policies of plutonomies include government deregulation and reduced taxes on the rich. In order to sell the idea of plutonomy to the citizens of a democracy, the plutocrats must convince average citizens that trickle down economics will not only work, but ultimately make it possible for them to get rich, too.

Economic growth that is powered and consumed by the wealthiest upper class of society. Plutonomy refers to a society where the majority of the wealth is controlled by an ever-shrinking minority; as such, the economic growth of that society becomes dependent on the fortunes of that same wealthy minority.

Does the ideas of deregulation and tax cuts sound vaguely familiar?  (Think Reagan and the GOP)…..  Or when Mitt said “I m not very worried about the very poor”?  I know there was more to the quote than that…but let us be real….that is all you will ever hear from the speech…….but does any of this sound familiar?