plu·toc·ra·cy
plo͞oˈtäkrəsē/
noun
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government by the wealthy.
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a country or society governed by the wealthy.plural noun: plutocracies
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an elite or ruling class of people whose power derives from their wealth.
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Ploutos was Greek for “wealth”, and Plouton, or Pluto, was one of the names used for the Greek god of the underworld, where all the earth’s mineral wealth was stored. So a plutocracy governs or wields power through its money. The economic growth in the U.S. in the late 19th century produced a group of enormously wealthy plutocrats. Huge companies like John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil gained serious political power, and Rockefeller was able to influence lawmakers in states where his businesses operated. For this reason, it was said in 1905 that Ohio and New Jersey were plutocracies, not democracies.
