Opinion: The World Has Reached Peak Plutocracy

The land by Boegbor, a town in district four in Grand Bassa County, Liberia, has been leased by the government to Equatorial Palm Oil for 50 years. Credit: Wade C.L. Williams/IPSBy Soren AmbroseNAIROBI, Apr 23 2015 (IPS)Parents in despair because they can’t pay the fees at the privatised neighbourhood school…Families left without healthcare because the mining company that pollutes their river also dodges the taxes that could pay for their treatment…Women getting four hours of sleep a night as they try to balance caring for their families and homes with earning income…Soren AmbroseWhole communities thrown off their land to make way for a foreign company…Workers paid so little by employers that they’re suffering malnutrition.These are just a few of the reports I’ve heard from my colleagues in recent months.We see people frustrated by the surge in the power of the plutocrats.Plutocracy is a society or a system ruled and dominated by a small minority of the wealthiest. The rich have always been powerful; some element of plutocracy has been present in all societies.But the degree of control being exercised now; the number of the ultra-rich essentially buying political power; the nearly impossible persistence required to overcome the legal, public relations, and technical resources controlled by corporations and the richest individuals; the much denser concentration of wealth in even the largest countries; and the global nature of the resources, power, and connections...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Civil Society Democracy Development & Aid Economy & Trade Energy Environment Food & Agriculture Gender Global Global Governance Headlines Health Human Rights Inequity Labour Natural Resources Population Source Type: news