What is a Plutocracy?

“The economy no longer facilitates human society; humans live to serve the economy.”

A plutocracy is a society that is controlled by people of great wealth and income. The first known use of this term is from 1631; evidently, this everlasting international issue has been hard to get rid of. Throughout history, plutocrats have been condemned for ignoring social responsibilities and using their power self-inwardly, simultaneously increasing the severity of poor people’s situation. Today’s market economy is stuck in these roots.

There is an increasing congruence of interests among elite governments in several nations. Consequently, the majority of middle and lower class citizens have been suffering from a lack of freedom of speech, low-incomes, and corrupt defence systems. Low income adults have household incomes of less than $52,000 USD. In comparison, high income adults earn more than triple. Imagine this: for hundreds of years, families are being left without affordable healthcare and are set immense taxes that are impossible to be paid. Workers are extremely underpaid, communities are damaged as corporations take their lives, money, and home.

The recent surge in plutocracy is worsening income inequality in a thousand ways. In the US, a highly partisan supreme court decision concluded that the Environmental Protection Agency is not entitled to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from power stations. So corporations can cause further long-term damage to our planet just to enrich their lives. At first this may come off as shocking, but is it really? The government is practically determined to destroy the livelihood of not only the US nation, but the entire world.

So far, the majority of it sounds rather depressing. Will it go downhill from here? Despite the darkness of it all, Author Chrystia Freeland reminded everybody about the Industrial Revolution. This era provided humanity with nothing but good: everything was more convenient, lives were more fulfilling and even lasted longer. I believe that there is still hope in removing this global plutocracy. However, it will take a lot of effort from the international community, political and social intervention. As Freeland said: “We need to make a new New Deal”.