It has been proposed the United States is not truly a capitalist county, but instead a “plutonomy.” . Some individuals insist the United States of America economy was that way to start with. Recently released figures indicate that recent booms in the economy had almost everything to do with the wealthiest few.
Plutonomy does not involve a cartoon dog
The word denotes the economy revolves around a small number of very rich individuals. There is reason to think any “improvements” during the recession have anything to do with the spending habits of the richest few. According to the Wall Street Journal, Moody’s has kept track of consumer spending habits, such as the richest 20 percent of the population. The richest 5 percent have spent about 37 percent of all consumers spending for the last 20 years. The bottom 80 percent only spent about 40 percent. Only 10 percent of the population makes about half the total income in the U.S.
The math works
A 2006 Federal Reserve study by Arthur Kennickell found 70 percent of the wealth within the nation was owned by 10 percent of the population. That means for every dollar of value in the sum total of all non-public assets of the United States, 90 percent of the population owns only 30 cents worth. It seems Reagan’s trickle went upward, and it was no mere trickle; it was a tidal wave.
In order to set up a more perfect union for the rich
A few scholars, for instance Howard Zinn, observed the Founding Fathers of this country were the wealthiest of the rich. Their profits were affected more by British taxes than the commoners were. Thus, they revolted and established a nation in which they would enjoy an oligarchy of advantage. No less than James Madison estimated only a third of Americans were in favor of the Revolution. It is in the nature of republics to encourage aristocracies. A widening and enormous gap between the rich and poor is one of the few universal precursors of the collapse of a society.
online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703988304575413432696177258.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States
federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2006/200613/200613pap.pdf – PDF, requires Adobe Reader
