# Plutocracy

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Society controlled by the wealthiest citizens

"Merchant prince" redirects here. For powerful businesspeople, see [Captain of industry](/source/Captain_of_industry). For the computer game, see [Merchant Prince](/source/Merchant_Prince).

"Plutocrats" redirects here. For the 2012 book, see [Plutocrats (book)](/source/Plutocrats_(book)).

Not to be confused with [Plutonomy](/source/Plutonomy).

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A **plutocracy** (from [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek_language) [πλοῦτος](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%80%CE%BB%CE%BF%E1%BF%A6%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82#Ancient_Greek)*(*ploûtos*)* 'wealth' and [κράτος](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82#Ancient_Greek)*(*krátos*)* 'power') or **plutarchy** is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great [wealth](/source/Wealth) or [income](/source/Income). It can be considered a form of [oligarchy](/source/Oligarchy) (rule by the few) where the ruling few are wealthy. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631.[1] It is not rooted in any established [political philosophy](/source/Political_philosophy).[2]

## Usage

The term *plutocracy* is generally used as a [pejorative](/source/Pejorative) to describe or warn against an undesirable condition.[3][4] "[Dollarocracy](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dollarocracy)", an anglicised adaptation of the word "plutocracy", may refer to "a specifically [American](/source/United_States_of_America) version of plutocracy".[5]

## Examples

Historic examples of plutocracies include the [Roman Empire](/source/Roman_Empire); some [city-states](/source/City-state) in [Ancient Greece](/source/Ancient_Greece); the civilization of [Carthage](/source/Carthage); the [Italian](/source/Italian_Renaissance) [merchant](/source/Maritime_republics) [city-states](/source/Italian_city-states) of [Venice](/source/Republic_of_Venice), [Florence](/source/Republic_of_Florence) and [Genoa](/source/Republic_of_Genoa); the [Dutch Republic](/source/Dutch_Republic); and the pre-[World War II](/source/World_War_II) [Empire of Japan](/source/Empire_of_Japan) (the *[zaibatsu](/source/Zaibatsu)*). According to [Noam Chomsky](/source/Noam_Chomsky) and [Jimmy Carter](/source/Jimmy_Carter), the modern [United States](/source/United_States) resembles a plutocracy though with democratic forms.[6][7] In 2018, [Paul Volcker](/source/Paul_Volcker), a former [chair of the Federal Reserve](/source/Chair_of_the_Federal_Reserve), stated he also believed the U.S. to be developing into a plutocracy.[8]

One modern, formal example of a plutocracy, according to some critics,[9] is the [City of London](/source/City_of_London).[10] The City (also called the Square Mile of ancient [London](/source/London), corresponding to the modern financial district, an area of about 2.5 km2) has a unique electoral system for [its local administration](/source/City_of_London_Corporation), separate from the rest of London. More than two-thirds of voters are not residents, but rather representatives of businesses and other bodies that occupy premises in the City, with votes distributed according to their numbers of employees. The principal justification for this arrangement is that most of the services provided by the City of London Corporation are used by the businesses in the City. Around 450,000 non-residents constitute the City's day-time population, far outnumbering the City's 7,000 residents.[11]

In the political jargon and [propaganda of Fascist Italy](/source/Propaganda_of_Fascist_Italy), [Nazi Germany](/source/Propaganda_in_Nazi_Germany) and the [Communist International](/source/Communist_International), Western [democratic states](/source/Democratic_state) were referred to as plutocracies, with the implication being that a small number of extremely wealthy individuals were controlling the countries and holding them to ransom.[12][13] Plutocracy replaced democracy and [capitalism](/source/Capitalism) as the principal fascist term for the U.S. and Great Britain during World War II.[13][14] In [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany), it was often used as a [dog whistle](/source/Dog_whistle_(politics)) term for [Jewish people](/source/Jews) in their [antisemitic propaganda](/source/Propaganda_in_Nazi_Germany).[13] [Joseph Goebbels](/source/Joseph_Goebbels), the [Reich Minister of Propaganda](/source/Reich_Ministry_of_Public_Enlightenment_and_Propaganda), found the term to be particularly favorable, describing it as "the main concept at which the ideological struggle will be aimed".[15]

### United States

Further information: [Income inequality in the United States § Effects on democracy and society](/source/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States#Effects_on_democracy_and_society)

See also: [American upper class](/source/American_upper_class) and [Wealth inequality in the United States](/source/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States)

[US federal minimum wage](/source/US_federal_minimum_wage) if it had kept pace with productivity. Also, the real minimum wage.

Some modern historians, politicians, and economists argue that the U.S. was effectively plutocratic for at least part of the [Gilded Age](/source/Gilded_Age) and [Progressive Era](/source/Progressive_Era) periods between the end of the [Civil War](/source/Civil_War_(United_States)) until the beginning of the [Great Depression](/source/Great_Depression).[16][17][18][19][20][21] President [Theodore Roosevelt](/source/Theodore_Roosevelt) became known as the "trust-buster" for his aggressive use of [antitrust law](/source/United_States_antitrust_law), through which he managed to break up such major combinations as [the largest railroad](/source/Northern_Securities_Company) and [Standard Oil](/source/Standard_Oil), the largest oil company.[22] According to historian David Burton, "When it came to domestic political concerns, TR's [bête noire](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/b%C3%AAte_noire) was the plutocracy."[23] In his autobiographical account of taking on monopolistic corporations as president, Roosevelt recounted:

...we had come to the stage where for our people what was needed was a real democracy; and of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy.[24]

The [Sherman Antitrust Act](/source/Sherman_Antitrust_Act) had been enacted in 1890, when large industries reaching [monopolistic](/source/Monopolistic) or near-monopolistic levels of [market concentration](/source/Market_concentration) and [financial capital](/source/Financial_capital) increasingly integrating corporations and a handful of very wealthy heads of large corporations began to exert increasing influence over industry, public opinion and politics after the Civil War. Money, according to contemporary [progressive](/source/Progressive_movement) and journalist [Walter Weyl](/source/Walter_Weyl), was "the mortar of this edifice", with ideological differences among politicians fading and the political realm becoming "*a mere branch* in a still larger, integrated business. The state, which through the party formally sold favors to the large corporations, became one of their departments."[25]

In "The Politics of Plutocracy" section of his book, *[The Conscience of a Liberal](/source/The_Conscience_of_a_Liberal)*, economist [Paul Krugman](/source/Paul_Krugman) says plutocracy took hold because of three factors: at that time, the poorest quarter of American residents (African-Americans and non-naturalized immigrants) were ineligible to vote, the wealthy funded the campaigns of politicians they preferred, and [vote buying](/source/Electoral_fraud#Vote_buying) was "feasible, easy and widespread", as were other forms of [electoral fraud](/source/Electoral_fraud) such as [ballot-box stuffing](/source/Electoral_fraud#Ballot_stuffing) and [intimidation of the other party's voters](/source/Electoral_fraud#Intimidation).[26]

The U.S. instituted [progressive taxation](/source/Progressive_taxation) in 1913, but according to [Shamus Khan](/source/Shamus_Khan), in the 1970s, elites used their increasing political power to lower their taxes, and today successfully employ what political scientist Jeffrey Winters calls "the income defense industry" to greatly reduce their taxes.[27]

#### Post-World War II

In modern times, the term is sometimes used pejoratively to refer to societies rooted in state-corporate capitalism or which prioritize the accumulation of wealth over other interests.[28][29][30][31] According to [Kevin Phillips](/source/Kevin_Phillips_(political_commentator)), author and political strategist to [Richard Nixon](/source/Richard_Nixon), the United States is a plutocracy in which there is a "fusion of money and government."[32]

[Chrystia Freeland](/source/Chrystia_Freeland), author of *[Plutocrats](/source/Plutocrats_(book))*,[33] says that the present trend towards plutocracy occurs because the rich feel that their interests are shared by society:[34][35]

You don't do this in a kind of chortling, smoking your cigar, conspiratorial thinking way. You do it by persuading yourself that what is in your own personal self-interest is in the interests of everybody else. So you persuade yourself that, actually, government services, things like spending on education, which is what created that social mobility in the first place, need to be cut so that the deficit will shrink, so that your tax bill doesn't go up. And what I really worry about is, there is so much money and so much power at the very top, and the gap between those people at the very top and everybody else is so great, that we are going to see social mobility choked off and society transformed.

In 1998, [Bob Herbert](/source/Bob_Herbert) of *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)* referred to modern American plutocrats as "The **Donor Class**"[36][37] (list of top (political party) donors)[38] and defined the class, for the first time,[39] as "a tiny group – just one-quarter of 1 percent of the population – and it is not representative of the rest of the nation. But its money buys plenty of access."[36]

When the Nobel Prize–winning economist [Joseph Stiglitz](/source/Joseph_Stiglitz) wrote the 2011 *[Vanity Fair](/source/Vanity_Fair_(magazine))* magazine article entitled "Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%", the title and content supported Stiglitz's claim that the U.S. is increasingly ruled by the wealthiest 1%.[40] Some researchers have said [the U.S. may be drifting towards a form of oligarchy](/source/Oligarchy#United_States), as individual citizens have less impact than economic elites and organized interest groups upon public policy.[41] In the [U.S. Congress](/source/United_States_Congress) itself, more than half of all members are millionaires.[42]

A study conducted by political scientists Martin Gilens of [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University) and Benjamin Page of [Northwestern University](/source/Northwestern_University), which was released in April 2014,[43] stated that their "analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts". Gilens and Page do not characterize the U.S. as an "oligarchy" or "plutocracy" per se; however, they do apply the concept of "civil oligarchy" as used by [Jeffrey A. Winters](/source/Jeffrey_A._Winters)[44] with respect to the U.S.

The investor, [billionaire](/source/Billionaire), and [philanthropist](/source/Philanthropist) [Warren Buffett](/source/Warren_Buffett), one of the wealthiest people in the world,[45] voiced in 2005 and once more in 2006 his view that his class, the "rich class", is waging class warfare on the rest of society. In 2005 Buffet said to CNN: "It's class warfare, my class is winning, but they shouldn't be."[46] In a November 2006 interview in *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*, Buffett stated that "[t]here's class warfare all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."[47]

## Causation

According to Piketty, a nation that is experiencing rapid economic growth, [income inequality](/source/Income_inequality) will tend to increase as the rate of return on innovation increases.[48][*[undue weight?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view#Due_and_undue_weight) – [discuss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Plutocracy#undue)*]

## See also

- [Aristocracy](/source/Aristocracy) – Form of government

- [Banana republic](/source/Banana_republic) – Term for a politically unstable country

- [Broligarchy](/source/Broligarchy) – Slang term for a society controlled by tech bros

- [Corporatocracy](/source/Corporatocracy) – Society controlled by business corporations

- [Elitism](/source/Elitism) – Notion that elites deserve more influence

- [Kleptocracy](/source/Kleptocracy) – Form of government

- [Neo-feudalism](/source/Neo-feudalism) – Theoretical rebirth of antique governance

- [Oligarchy](/source/Oligarchy) – Form of government with small ruling class

- [Overclass](/source/Overclass) – Pejorative social term

- [Plutonomy](/source/Plutonomy) – Science of production and distribution of wealth

- [Timocracy](/source/Timocracy) – Form of government, where power derives from wealth

- [Upper class](/source/Upper_class) – Social class

- [Wealth concentration](/source/Wealth_concentration) – Spread of wealth in a societyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

- [Property qualification](/source/Property_qualification) – Exclusion from voting rights on the basis of a lack of property

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Plutocracy"](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plutocracy). *Merriam Webster*. Retrieved 2 June 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Plutocratic Populism - ECPS"](https://www.populismstudies.org/Vocabulary/plutocratic-populism/). Retrieved 21 February 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Fiske, Edward B.; Mallison, Jane; Hatcher, Dave (2009). [*Fiske 250 words every high school freshman needs to know*](https://books.google.com/books?id=m74oSMXpnx8C). [Naperville, Ill](/source/Naperville%2C_Illinois).: Sourcebooks. p. 50. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781402260797](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781402260797). [...] Plutocracy and **plutocrat** are almost always used in a pejorative or negative sense.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Coates, Colin M., ed. (2006). *Majesty in Canada: essays on the role of royalty*. Toronto: Dundurn. p. 119. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1550025866](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1550025866).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Muller, Denis (9 August 2021). "Democracy Under Strain". [*Journalism and the Future of Democracy*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Krg8EAAAQBAJ). Cham, Zug: Springer Nature. pp. 10–11. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9783030767617](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783030767617). Retrieved 13 July 2024. The position of the United States as a 'weak democracy' had degenerated into what [McChesney](/source/Robert_W._McChesney) and his colleague [John Nichols](/source/John_Nichols_(journalist)) called a 'dollarocracy', 'a specifically American version of plutocracy' in which corporate lobbying had corrupted Congressional processes.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NoamC1_6-0)** [Chomsky, Noam](/source/Noam_Chomsky) (6 October 2015). ["America is a plutocracy masquerading as a democracy"](http://www.salon.com/2015/10/06/noam_chomsky_america_is_a_plutocracy_masquerading_as_a_democracy_partner/). *Salon*. Retrieved 13 February 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-JimmyC1_7-0)** [Carter, Jimmy](/source/Jimmy_Carter) (15 October 2015). ["Jimmy Carter on Whether He Could Be President Today: "Absolutely Not""](http://www.supersoul.tv/supersoul-sunday/jimmy-carter-on-whether-he-could-be-president-today-absolutely-not). *supersoul.tv*. Retrieved 13 February 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Sorkin, Andrew](/source/Sorkin) (23 October 2018). ["Paul Volcker, at 91, Sees 'a Hell of a Mess in Every Direction'"](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/business/dealbook/paul-volcker-federal-reserve.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur). *New York Times*. Retrieved 28 October 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Atkinson, Rowland; Parker, Simon; Burrows, Roger (September 2017). ["Elite Formation, Power and Space in Contemporary London"](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0263276417717792). *Theory, Culture & Society*. **34** (5–6): 179–200. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1177/0263276417717792](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0263276417717792). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[1983/13493d5a-5155-42e1-8ca2-66839fea4712](https://hdl.handle.net/1983%2F13493d5a-5155-42e1-8ca2-66839fea4712). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0263-2764](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0263-2764).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Guardian1_10-0)** [Monbiot, George](/source/George_Monbiot) (31 October 2011). ["The medieval, unaccountable Corporation of London is ripe for protest"](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/31/corporation-london-city-medieval). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 1 November 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-tribune_11-0)** René Lavanchy (12 February 2009). ["Labour runs in City of London poll against 'get-rich' bankers"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150115021037/http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2009/02/labour-runs-in-city-of-london-poll-against-%E2%80%98get-rich%E2%80%99-bankers//). *[Tribune](/source/Tribune_(magazine))*. Archived from [the original](http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2009/02/labour-runs-in-city-of-london-poll-against-%E2%80%98get-rich%E2%80%99-bankers//) on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-marxists.org_12-0)** ["The Editors: American Labor and the War (February 1941)"](https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/fi/vol02/no02/editors2.htm). *marxists.org*. Retrieved 28 August 2015.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-blamires_13-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-blamires_13-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-blamires_13-2) Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul (2006). *World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1*. ABC-CLIO. p. 522. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-57607-940-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-57607-940-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Herf, Jeffrey (2006). *The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust*. Harvard University Press. p. 311. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-674-02175-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-02175-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** As quoted in Boelcke, Willi A. The Secret Conferences of Dr. Goebbels: October 1939-March 1943, edited by Willi A. Boelcke; trans. Ewald Osers. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** [Pettigrew, Richard Franklin](/source/Richard_F._Pettigrew) (2010). *Triumphant Plutocracy: The Story of American Public Life from 1870 to 1920*. Nabu Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1146542746](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1146542746).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Calvin Reed, John (1903). *The New Plutocracy*. Kessinger Publishing, LLC (2010 reprint). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1120909152](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1120909152). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Brinkmeyer, Robert H. (2009). *The fourth ghost: white Southern writers and European fascism, 1930-1950*. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. p. 331. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0807133835](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0807133835).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Allitt, Patrick (2009). [*The conservatives: ideas and personalities throughout American history*](https://archive.org/details/conservativeside00alli_0/page/143). New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. [143](https://archive.org/details/conservativeside00alli_0/page/143). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0300118940](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0300118940).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Ryan, James G.; Schlup, Leonard, eds. (2003). *Historical dictionary of the Gilded Age*. Armonk, N.Y.: [M.E. Sharpe](/source/M.E._Sharpe). p. 145. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0765603319](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0765603319).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Viereck, Peter (2006). [*Conservative thinkers: from John Adams to Winston Churchill*](https://archive.org/details/conservativethin00pete/page/103). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. pp. [103](https://archive.org/details/conservativethin00pete/page/103). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1412805261](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1412805261).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Schweikart, Larry (2009). *American Entrepreneur: The Fascinating Stories of the People Who Defined Business in the United States*. [AMACOM](/source/AMACOM) Div American Mgmt Assn.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Burton, David Henry (1997). [*Theodore Roosevelt, American Politician*](https://books.google.com/books?id=zMdfna-aocwC&q=theodore+roosevelt+plutocracy&pg=PA104). Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780838637272](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780838637272). Retrieved 28 August 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** ["Roosevelt, Theodore. 1913. An Autobiography: XII. The Big Stick and the Square Deal"](http://www.bartleby.com/55/12.html). *bartleby.com*. Retrieved 28 August 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** Bowman, Scott R. (1996). *The modern corporation and American political thought: law, power, and ideology*. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 92–103. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0271014739](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0271014739).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** Krugman, Paul (2009). [*The conscience of a liberal*](https://archive.org/details/conscienceoflib00krug/page/21) ([Pbk. ed.] ed.). New York: Norton. pp. [21–26](https://archive.org/details/conscienceoflib00krug/page/21). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0393333138](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0393333138).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** Kahn, Shamus (18 September 2012) ["The Rich Haven't Always Hated Taxes"](https://ideas.time.com/2012/09/18/the-rich-havent-always-hated-taxes/) *Time Magazine*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** Barker, Derek (2013). "Oligarchy or Elite Democracy? Aristotle and Modern Representative Government". *New Political Science*. **35** (4): 547–566. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/07393148.2013.848701](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F07393148.2013.848701). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [145063601](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:145063601).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** Etzioni, Amitai (January 2014). ["Political Corruption in the United States: A Design Draft"](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2378486_code523130.pdf?abstractid=2378486&mirid=5&type=2) (PDF). *Political Science & Politics*. **47** (1): 141–144. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/S1049096513001492](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS1049096513001492). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [155071383](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:155071383).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** Westbrook, David (2011). ["If Not a Commercial Republic - Political Economy in the United States after Citizens United"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140502000423/http://www.louisvillelawreview.org/sites/louisvillelawreview.org/files/pdfs/printcontent/50/1/Westbrook.pdf) (PDF). *Louisville Law Review*. **50** (1): 35–86. Archived from [the original](http://www.louisvillelawreview.org/sites/louisvillelawreview.org/files/pdfs/printcontent/50/1/Westbrook.pdf) (PDF) on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-31)** [Full Show: The Long, Dark Shadows of Plutocracy](http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-long-dark-shadows-plutocracy/). *[Moyers & Company](/source/Moyers_%26_Company)*, 28 November 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** [Transcript. Bill Moyers Interviews Kevin Phillips](https://web.archive.org/web/20020604015016/http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_phillips.html). *[NOW with Bill Moyers](/source/NOW_with_Bill_Moyers)* 4.09.04 | PBS

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** [Freeland, Chrystia](/source/Chrystia_Freeland) (2012). [*Plutocrats: the rise of the new global super-rich and the fall of everyone else*](https://archive.org/details/plutocratsriseof00free). New York: Penguin. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781594204098](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781594204098). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [780480424](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/780480424).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-34)** Freeland, Chrystia (15 October 2012). ["A Startling Gap Between Us And Them In 'Plutocrats'"](https://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162799512/a-startling-gap-between-us-and-them-in-plutocrats) (Interview). [National Public Radio](/source/National_Public_Radio). Retrieved 12 April 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-35)** See also the Chrystia Freeland interview for the Moyers Book Club (12 October 2012) [*Moyers & Company* Full Show: Plutocracy Rising](http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-plutocracy-rising/)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-NYT-19980719_36-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-NYT-19980719_36-1) [Herbert, Bob](/source/Bob_Herbert) (19 July 1998). ["The Donor Class"](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/19/opinion/in-america-the-donor-class.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NYT-20151010_37-0)** Confessore, Nicholas; Cohen, Sarah; Yourish, Karen (10 October 2015). ["The Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Election"](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/11/us/politics/2016-presidential-election-super-pac-donors.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NYT-20151010-el_38-0)** Lichtblau, Eric; Confessore, Nicholas (10 October 2015). ["From Fracking to Finance, a Torrent of Campaign Cash - Top Donors List"](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/us/politics/wealthy-families-presidential-candidates.html#donors-list). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 11 March 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-CS-20141226_39-0)** McCutcheon, Chuck (26 December 2014). ["Why the 'donor class' matters, especially in the GOP presidential scrum"](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Politics-Voices/2014/1226/Why-the-donor-class-matters-especially-in-the-GOP-presidential-scrum). *"[The Christian Science Monitor](/source/The_Christian_Science_Monitor)*. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-40)** Stiglitz Joseph E. ["Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%"](http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105#). *[Vanity Fair](/source/Vanity_Fair_(magazine))*, May 2011; see also the *[Democracy Now!](/source/Democracy_Now!)* interview with Joseph Stiglitz: ["Assault on Social Spending, Pro-Rich Tax Cuts Turning U.S. into Nation 'Of the 1 Percent, by the 1 Percent, for the 1 Percent'"](http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/7/nobel_economist_joseph_stiglitz_assault_on), *[Democracy Now!](/source/Democracy_Now!)* Archive, Thursday, 7 April 2011

1. **[^](#cite_ref-41)** [Piketty, Thomas](/source/Thomas_Piketty) (2014). *[Capital in the Twenty-First Century](/source/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century)*. Belknap Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [067443000X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/067443000X) p. 514: "the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little reason for optimism about where the United States is headed."

1. **[^](#cite_ref-42)** Evers-Hillstrom, Karl (23 April 2020). ["Majority of lawmakers in 116th Congress are millionaires"](https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/04/majority-of-lawmakers-millionaires/). *OpenSecrets*. Retrieved 10 July 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-43)** Martin Gilens & Benjamin I. Page (2014). ["Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens"](http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf) (PDF). *[Perspectives on Politics](/source/Perspectives_on_Politics)*. **12** (3): 564–581. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/S1537592714001595](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS1537592714001595).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-44)** Winters, Jeffrey A. "[Oligarchy](https://archive.org/details/oligarchy0000wint)" Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 208–254

1. **[^](#cite_ref-45)** ["The World's Billionaires"](https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/). *forbes.com*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130403013841/http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/) from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-46)** [Buffett: 'There are lots of loose nukes around the world'](http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/05/10/buffett/index.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160430104340/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/05/10/buffett/index.html) 30 April 2016 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) CNN.com

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Buffett_warfare_47-0)** Buffett, Warren (26 November 2006). ["In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class is Winning"](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/business/yourmoney/26every.html). *The New York Times*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170103165340/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/business/yourmoney/26every.html) from the original on 3 January 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-48)** Piketty, Thomas (2013). *Capital in the Twenty-First Century*. Harvard University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781491534649](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781491534649).

## Further reading

- Howard, Milford Wriarson (1895). [*The American plutocracy*](https://books.google.com/books?id=-RoPAAAAYAAJ). New York: Holland Publishing.

- Norwood, Thomas Manson (1888). [*Plutocracy: or, American white slavery; a politico-social novel*](https://books.google.com/books?id=7lYYAAAAYAAJ). New York: [American News Company](/source/American_News_Company).

- [Pettigrew, Richard Franklin](/source/Richard_F._Pettigrew) (1921). [*Triumphant Plutocracy: The Story of American Public Life from 1870 to 1920*](https://archive.org/details/triumphantpluto00pettgoog). New York: Academy Press.

- Reed, John Calvin (1903). [*The New Plutocracy*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8zIoAAAAYAAJ). New York: Abbey Press.

- Winters, Jeffrey A. (2011). [*Oligarchy*](https://archive.org/details/oligarchy0000wint). Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-107-00528-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-107-00528-0).

- Martínez, Abraham (2021). [*Plutocracy. Chronicles of a global monopoly*](https://books.google.com/books?id=0TGdEQAAQBAJ). New York: NBM. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-68112-269-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-68112-269-4).

## External links

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Plutocracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.