The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich

by Evan Osnos

From New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning author Evan Osnos comes a timely and provocative collection of essays exploring American oligarchy and the culture of excess, providing a wry, unfiltered look at how the ultra-rich shape—and sometimes warp—our social and political landscape.

The ultra-rich hold more of America’s wealth than they did in the heyday of the Carnegies and Rockefellers. Here, Evan Osnos’s incisive reportage yields an unforgettable portrait of the tactics and obsessions driving this new Gilded Age, in which superyachts, luxury bunkers, elite tax dodges, and a torrent of political donations bespeak staggering disparities of wealth and power.

With deft storytelling and meticulous reporting, this is a book about the indulgences, incentives, and psychological distortions that define our economic age. In each essay, Osnos delves into a world that is rarely visible, from the outrageous to the fabulous to the a private wealth manager who broke with members of an American dynasty and spilled their secrets; the pop stars who perform at lavish parties for thirteen-year-olds; the status anxieties that spill out of marinas in Monaco and Palm Beach like real-world episodes of Succession and The White Lotus; the ethos behind the largest Ponzi scheme in Hollywood history; the confessions of disgraced titans in a “white-collar support group.” A celebrated political reporter, Osnos delves into the unprecedented Washington influence of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, drawing on in-depth interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires, about their power and the explosive backlash it stirs.

Originally published in The New Yorker, these essays have been revised and expanded to deliver an unflinching portrait of raw ambition, unimaginable fortune, and the rise of America’s modern oligarchy. Osnos’s essays are a wake-up call—a case against complacency in the face of unchecked excess, as the choices of the ultra-rich ripple through our lives. Entertaining, unsettling, and eye-opening, The Haves and the Have-Yachts couldn’t be more relevant to today’s world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Audiobook, Economics, History, Sociology, Essays

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2025

About the author

Evan Osnos joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2008. He is a correspondent in Washington, D.C. who writes about politics and foreign affairs. He is the author of "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, May 2014). Based on eight years of living in Beijing, the book traces the rise of the individual in China, and the clash between aspiration and authoritarianism. He was the China Correspondent at The New Yorker magazine from 2008 to 2013. He is a contributor to This American Life on public radio, and Frontline, the PBS series. Prior to The New Yorker, he worked as the Beijing bureau chief of the Chicago Tribune, where he contributed to a series that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He has received the Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, and a Mirror Award for profile-writing. Before his appointment in China, he worked in the Middle East, reporting mostly from Iraq.

Reviews

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will begin by saying that every individual essay in here is interesting, well-conceived, and well-executed. Osnos is a professional journalist and his writing shows it. I am not sad that I read any of these essays and if you have interest in the subject matter, I think you will get a lot out of this book.

However, I am not sure you’ll get any more out of this book than you would if you bought a New Yorker subscription and then clicked through on all his articles about the rich and elite in America. He (or his editor) have tried to organize the ten articles in the book into three sections--How to Spend [Money], How to Keep [Money], and How to Lose [Money], but it’s not always clear why one article has been put one section vs. another. For example, the essay on how Greenwich republicans went MAGA is in the How to Keep [Money] section, when it really seems more about spending money on political influence.

The clearest explanation of what I think the book’s central theme and message is comes in the last essay, about a man who runs a support group for people convicted of white collar crime where he discusses how America spends so much time and effort trying to identify causes of shamelessness and criminality in the lower classes but almost none trying to do the same for the upper classes.

Overall this book is a collection of very interesting anecdotes about the upper class in America. Unfortunately that’s all it is.

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evan Osnos is an American journalist. His latest book, 2025's punnily-titled The Haves and Have-Yachts, consists of a series of essays on Stereotypical Stuff Rich People Do/Like. Topics include super yachts, tax avoidance, political control, and, strangely, the economy of private gigs for musicians of current and former fame to play exclusive shows for $$$ (since the paradigm of how musicians make money has shifted in the digital age - see Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist).

This was an interesting essay series, though there are dozens of Youtube channels focused on similar exposés and experiments in immersive journalism along the same lines ("I shopped at Erewhon for a week," "I worked out at $20K/month gym", etc., that savvy Youtubers are likely getting a tax writeoff on anyway).

My statistics:
Book 196 for 2025
Book 2122 cumulatively

[Phil reading_fastandslow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evan Osnos’s The Haves and Have-Yachts is one of the most entertaining and quietly infuriating books I’ve read this year. From yacht IMAX theaters to tax loopholes big enough to dock a superyacht in…with a smart, clear-eyed account of how wealth concentration shapes power, culture, and even personality. Osnos is one of the few journalists who can make you laugh at a joke about offshore trusts while also making you feel the slow, sickening drift of democracy out of reach.

The essays (originally from The New Yorker, though they’ve been updated here for 2025 current events) feel more urgent collected together. Patterns emerge: the bunker mentality, the prepper fantasy, the obsession with legacy, the distance from consequence. Osnos doesn’t editorialize much, which is part of what makes the book so effective. The people he interviews often damn themselves in their own quotes. It’s a book about money, yes, but also about fear: fear of decline, of irrelevance, of the masses they’ve left behind.

The book feels essential for this moment. It’s not shrill, not moralizing, just precise and piercing in its observations. Highly recommend.

[Steve Peifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with many collections of articles, this is pretty hit and miss. I read it all, truly enjoyed the yachting and private concerts articles, truly got chills on the Ponzi scheme, and was so so on the rest. It’s worth the read, but no points deducted for skipping an article that doesn’t grab you.

[Weronika · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a collection of previously published, edited articles. It does not work together as a book, focusing mostly on fraud and wanna-bes, not on wealth and the rich.

[Annie M.]

🎧. interesting, but I feel you could probably just read the pieces that interest you in the New Yorker. that said, good reporting about stuff I didn’t know about.

thank you @librofm for the librarian ALC!!

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays about the uber rich broken into 3 sections on: the rewards (e.g., mega yachts, doomsday prepping, private celebrity concerts), the mechanics (e.g., Facebook, Greenwich CT, wealth management), and the perils (e.g., scammer Zachary Horowitz, Chinese spies, white collar crimes).

I’ve heard about this book in a lot of places recently so I thought it would be fresh, but most of these are old essays that have been repurposed for this book with brief 2025 updates at the end. Overall it was much less titillating than I thought it would be. Nothing here that we haven’t already heard a billion times before.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd already encountered many of these pieces but enjoyed revisiting them and the 2025 updates

[Xinyu]

In the recent YouTube video How Historians Work, Stephen Kotkin pointed out that his work, or most of the history, aims to tell the story of accumulating and exercising the power, and their consequences. This book can be read as a story of how super rich people accumulate, maintain, and use their wealth. As a field note, the book doesn’t go in deep analysis about the wealth and power, but from the mention of names, anyone, who follows the American politics, can sense the enormous power the gigantic wealth wields. This feels different from the past. When I was growing up, figures like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, for all their wealth, did not seem to wield such direct political sway. Today’s super-rich, especially those who built the apps we use daily, command two distinct forms of power: one by shaping what we see, read, and buy; another through their wealth and connections to lobby the most powerful offices in the land. I don’t know what our society will look like in 5, 10, or 20 years. Are we in a temporary downturn that will soon reverse? Are we sleepwalking into a crisis that the super-rich are already preparing for? Or, worse, are we drifting toward a long, oppressive era reminiscent of the Dark Ages?

PS: I think the book conveys important messages, but I am not a big fan of Evan Osnos’s writing. Similar to How I felt about Age of Ambition, this work, for all its elegant prose and meticulous reporting, stirs the sensation but yields little insights. Or maybe the people he chose to interview are just not that interesting. I cannot pinpoint what exactly feels short, but Peter Hessler’s reporting usually delights me much more.

[Tala🦈 (mrs.skywalker.reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

suuuuuper ciekawe, wciągające jak powieść, czasami aż absurdalne, bo ci ludzie są absurdalni, a Osnos jest naprawdę świetnym reportażystą, ale:
- brak bibliografii (choć faktycznie autor wiele zrobił sam, ale no nie wszystko, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o źródła historyczne)
- trochę stronniczość (wszyscy wiemy, że big techy i Republikanie są be, ale i po innych stronach nie brakuje im równych)

[Scott J · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book is divided into three parts -
I. The Rewards - how to spend it
II. The Mechanics - how to keep it
III. The Perils - how to lose it

Great investigative work on the filthy rich. (I think it could be subtitled “In tax avoidance we trust.”)

[Laurie Freund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although not a quick read, it is definitely worthwhile. This collection of essays gives you more than a glimpse of how the very wealthy are able to live so secluded, continue generational wealth beyond the normal cycle, protect their funds, avoid paying their fair share of taxes, and use their power and influence to maintain their status, which widens the economic gap even further.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent essays once published in the New Yorker magazine. Osnos has figured out how to double dip being paid for the essays by the New Yorker and now with royalties from this book. Interesting how most – maybe all – of these articles lead back to Trump.

[vee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am exactly the target audience for this and still found it irredeemably boring

[Kalyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! From the very first page, I was hooked and learned quite a bit along the way. Listening to the audiobook was a great experience—Evan Osnos has a style that reminded me of the documentary shows I used to love, like Modern Marvels on the History Channel or How Do They Do It? on the Science Channel. If you enjoy having the curtain pulled back on power, ambition, and hidden systems, this book will definitely scratch that itch.

The book leans into themes often tied to the male ego—not in a negative sense, but in how it explores influence, power structures, and the mechanisms behind wealth and control. It starts with an engaging deep dive into the lifestyles and mindsets of the ultrarich, particularly the yachting elite, before gradually expanding into broader subjects like Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Trump-era politics, hedge funds, and white-collar crime.

One particularly eye-opening segment covered Greenwich, Connecticut—the hedge fund capital of the world—where wealth and financial ambition collide in fascinating (and sometimes criminal) ways. The exploration of white-collar crime, including why people do it, how they get away with it, and their surprising paths to rehabilitation, was especially insightful.

The section on Zuckerberg and the transformation of Facebook into Meta was also fascinating—it captured how he essentially rebranded and repositioned the company to steer it away from an inevitable public relations storm. It felt like watching a slow-motion escape from disaster.

One standout element was the narrator’s voice in the audiobook—clear, confident, and excellent. It added an extra layer of polish to already sharp journalism.

It’s worth noting that this book is a collection of Osnos's articles from The New Yorker, stitched together into a cohesive narrative. But it never felt disjointed. On the contrary, it showcased the kind of long-form journalism that’s increasingly rare these days. It gave me newfound respect for both the profession and the practitioners of thoughtful, investigative reporting.

Osnos also delves into Trump and his antics more than I expected—not that I disliked it, but it feels like nearly every book I’ve picked up lately includes a Trump segment. I suppose that’s just a reflection of the times.

All in all, I’m very happy with this book and satisfied with my choice. Evan Osnos has definitely earned a place on my radar. I’ll be keeping an eye out for his future work—whether it’s books, podcasts, or talks. A strong recommendation from me if you're curious about the mechanics of extreme wealth and those who wield it.

[Bretski67 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich, Evan Osnos

Evan Osnos has had a long career as a columnist with The New Yorker, so has particular entrée to the rarefied world of the super-rich. I found this to be a fascinating read - mainly for the realisation that us mere mortals are dealing in pocket money compared to the billions (even trillions) that the 0.01% have access to. From the giga-yachts costing $500-$650M (rapidly becoming status symbols and allowing the wealthy to flit from one jurisdiction to another), to the private gigs for friends and family (Flo Rida or Beyoncé hireable for $350-$500K?), to the doom-prep billionaires buying properties and bunkers in 'safe' countries [NZ is of special interest], to the hedge funds, perpetual family trusts, and tax avoidance-tax evasion industry that they can afford to spend on, Osnos covers a lot of ground. The most interesting chapters I found were the interview with Zuckerberg - a guy whose invention seems to have got away on him (Facebook's motto used to be -'move fast and break things') - whose obsession with growth at any cost arguably broke democracy in 2016 and has had dire consequences for teen/young adult mental health; there's the sad case of Zak Horwitz (Avery), a B-grade Hollywood actor who ran a $690M ponzi scheme for distribution of films to Latin America (the level of deceit, greed, and gullibility was mind-boggling); and the 'white-collar crime group', an on-line support forum for guys (lawyers, accountants, hedge fund managers, entrepreneurs) who'd often cheated people out of their life-savings and were looking to atone and come to terms with what they'd done. We often think Trump was a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. Osnos shows, through concentrating on the country club town of Greenwich, Connecticut, that old Republican money was very much a collaborator in his ascendancy. As one individual in this book states, at some stage we stopped being a 'we' society and became an 'I' society. The average American probably pays 15% more tax due to the tax evasion strategies of the rich. And that means public schools aren't funded the way they should be, roads aren't repaired, hospitals can't cover their costs, and government agencies can't function like they should. #Eattherich indeed.

[Russ Adcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn’t quite what I expected, but still worth the read. The book is actually a collection of long-form essays originally published in The New Yorker between 2017 and 2024. Each chapter stands on its own, but the connecting theme is the rapid rise of the oligarchy in the 21st century. Osnos compares it the Gilded Age 100 years ago. The difference is that today’s wealth disparity is even greater than in the 1920s and growing much faster.

Two lines from the prologue (which I first heard Osnos paraphrase in a podcast interview) grabbed my attention:

“In the years between Trump’s first and second inaugurations, the scale of wealth held by America’s billionaires more than doubled. Our nation’s richest citizens now control an even greater percentage of its money than they did during the reign of the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers—the run-up to what F. Scott Fitzgerald called ‘the greatest, gaudiest spree in history.’”

“The fall of Rome took five hundred years, but, as the distinguished historian Ramsey MacMullen once wrote, it could be compressed into three words: ‘fewer have more.’”

In an era where super-billionaires like Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg crowded out members of Congress from the inauguration stage, the book feels especially relevant. I do wish it had been written as a more unified narrative rather than a series of stand-alone essays, but Osnos is an engaging writer, and I’m interested in reading more of his work.

[Kes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable collection of essays

Note: These essays are apparently re-published from New Yorker. I don’t have a New Yorker subscription but this book is free from my library. So.

Book comprises of 10 essays, divided into three parts: 1) The Rewards - how to spend it 2) The Mechanics - how to keep it 3) The Perils - how to lose it.

The first essay is about yachts and super yachts. Fascinating insight on the superyacht industry - on that note, Trump’s tariffs (as of 2025) is hurting the European builders. The rich don’t want to pay the tariffs.

Second essay is on survivalists - bunker builders. There is a theme of withdrawal from society that becomes more apparent here (you get glimpses in the first essay, and that thread of withdrawal from the Have Nots is also mentioned in the Greenwich Rebellion chapter).

Third essay is on private shows by musicians. Interesting observation that musician trends fade faster nowadays - it’s not a long term career. Attention span is short.

Part 2
Seventh essay on trust was interesting - deals with tax efficient strategies and ethics. Specifically talks about Getty family & the great granddaughters living in wealth while simultaneously pretending to be an influencer / engaged in social issues.

Part 3
Last essay on white collar criminals - how haves are more sympathetic when they go through the system, but it doesn’t always last.

I think this book might have been better if it ended with a moral - or what themes it was trying to draw out. Each essay is individually interesting, but as a book - what lesson do you want me to draw? A conclusion at the end would have helped, or even a call to action (eg cut off tax loopholes).

[Greg S · Rating 4 out of 5]

EAT THE RICH!!!

Okay maybe it’s a bit trite to condense this brilliantly researched, accessible collection of essays about the ultrarich into three words. But seriously:

EAT THE RICH

At times it felt like some sort of self-inflicted punishment reading about these people who have so much money that they could single-handedly end world hunger but they prefer to spend their money on a literal display of my yacht (dick) is bigger than yours. Some of the essays feel a little out of date. There’s often a focus on Trump’s first presidency for example. However, it all still feels incredibly relevant.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book didn't really lock in on the critique of income inequality. Entertaining read tho.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Osnos’ books. Each chapter in THAHY is devoted to how the world works for the super wealthy. Super wealthy is not the same as high income earners. It tackles the tax system that favors the hoarding of wealth, those who work to evade even that taxation, the corruption super wealth has employed towards governments, not just the U.S. government, and even the legal system for the few who are brought to justice when they defraud people.

[Mary Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting but also infuriating that the ultra rich are in many ways living in a world without laws

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't yet believe that the super-rich are obscene parasites who fear the return of the revolutionary guillotine, then read this book. We should just eat them and be done with it.

[Raghu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extreme wealth and extreme inequality have been the major consequences of globalization since the 1990s. Such wealth has created parallel societies within the world’s democracies with their own rules, values, and political and cultural influence. In June 2025, we saw Amazon’s Jeff Bezos going to Venice in his $500 million gigayacht and spending $50 million on his wedding with Lauren Sanchez. In July 2024, Asia’s richest man, India’s Mukesh Ambani, celebrated the wedding of his son spanning several months. Superstars like Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Pitbull performed at the events. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates were guests at the wedding, which financial news publications estimated to have cost $600 million. However, weddings and private concerts with pop stars are not the only extravaganzas of the super-rich. They profligate on mega-yachts, private jets, art works, prime real-estate including entire islands, jewelry and high-end fashion. When rules thwart them, they seek to manipulate the rules to their will. As an example, when Jeff Bezos’ superyacht was too tall to pass beneath Rotterdam’s famous Koningshaven Bridge, its manufacturers suggested dismantling the bridge, rather than the yacht. Evan Osnos’ book explores the lives of the world’s wealthiest 0.01%, focusing on their wealth accumulation, spending habits, tax avoidance, and political power.

The book has three parts. The first part is “The Rewards - How to spend it?”. It details how the ultra-rich spend their immense wealth. They buy gigayachts, which are floating mansions, build luxury underground bunkers to escape potential future societal collapse, throw lavish birthday and wedding parties costing hundreds of millions. The second part is “The Mechanics - How to Keep it?”. It talks about how they keep their wealth by minimizing and avoiding taxes, using sophisticated and legal, often criticized, methods to minimize their tax burdens. They exert influence through significant political contributions, shaping policies and regulations in their favor to protect and grow their wealth. Another method is to do philanthropy in self-serving ways. We get a glimpse into the secret world of wealth management. One chapter details the story of a private wealth manager who revealed the secrets of a wealthy American oil dynasty. The third part is “The Perils - How to lose it?”. They lose their wealth by investing in fast-depreciating assets like superyachts, maintaining a large entourage of private staff, security personnel, wealth managers, and lawyers. All of them command high salaries. Doomsday bunkers bleed money and do not generate returns. The game of keeping up with the Joneses - their fellow billionaires - leads to higher and higher extravagant spending. Last, they lose money by committing massive financial fraud and getting caught.

Since 1990, the number of billionaires in the US has increased from sixty-six to over eight hundred. In the same period, the number of giant yachts - longer than 250 ft - has climbed from ten to over 170. Why is there a symbiotic relationship between billionaires and superyachts? Boats absorb the most excess capital. Flexibility is one of its appeals. On land, escaping a bad neighbour is messy. At sea, you can ask the captain to just sail to uninhabited waters. Yacht owners have their own discreet caste system. A Dutch-built boat is more valuable than an Italian. Custom design is more respectable than a “series yacht”. The yacht’s ‘length over all’ (LOA) has its Freudian appeal of “size matters”. Today’s billionaires own megayachts (230 ft) and gigayachts (over 295 ft). Together they are called superyachts. The world has 5400 superyachts today and about a hundred of them are gigayachts. However, superyachts are dreadful assets. Osnos cites the Financial Times’ analogy on superyachts: owning a superyacht is like juggling ten Van Goghs while treading water.

From the floating world, the author turns to Silicon Valley, CA, where billionaires rub shoulders with one another, albeit at a distance. Oddly, immense wealth has brought them mega-anxieties about their survival risks at the same time. They worry about the collapse of our government, its structures and the crackup of our civilization. In private Facebook groups, wealthy survivalists swap tips on gas masks, underground bunkers with air-filtration systems and locations safe from climate change. Second passports and safe escape havens are in the mix. During the Covid-19 outbreak, the super-rich sailed away into the ocean, far from civilization, to protect themselves. The acute income inequality in the US is another anxiety that stalks them. They fear a societal uprising by the have-nots. New Zealand, a remote island far from everything, is a popular choice for property investment as a form of “apocalypse insurance” against societal unrest and backlash. The first seven days after Donald Trump’s recent election win, 13,401 Americans registered with the New Zealand immigration system - seventeen times the usual rate. Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist, acquired citizenship in New Zealand after spending just twelve days there in 2017. Ordinary mortals need to stay a hundred times longer for the same privilege. Google co-founder Larry Page, the world’s sixth richest person, received New Zealand residency after arriving via medevac with his son, despite the country’s borders being closed because of COVID-19.

Another indulgence of the ultra-rich is hiring a pop star for their private party. It is called a “private”. If you have a few million dollars spare-change, you can hire Rolling Stones or Elton John or Paul McCartney for your birthday party. The Eagles received $6 million from an unnamed client in New York for a single performance of ‘Hotel California’. Prior to 2011, Mariah Carey, Nelly Furtado and others performed for the family of the dictator Col. Qaddafi in Libya. Jennifer Lopez performed at the birthday party of Turkmenistan’s dictator in 2013. Her compensation was $10 million. Beyonce earned $2.4 million for an hour-long gig in Dubai, a state that criminalizes homosexuality. She had dedicated an earlier album to the pioneers of queer culture! There is a reason top artists play at ‘privates’. It is the most lucrative, compared to regular concerts or a festival performance. What is the ideal combination for a modern artist? It is a million-dollar Hamptons party gig on Tuesday, followed by a Beacon Theater performance for half the price on Thursday.

Throughout the book, we come across mega-millionaires and billionaires and how they make money that runs into over ten digits. Why do the ultra-wealthy pursue even greater wealth? We think of greed forthwith, yet it’s more than simple avarice. It is power for some of them. For some others, cheating on taxes is a nihilistic triumph. It makes them feel they are smart. Surprisingly, some seek more money because of fear. Losing one’s inheritance is akin to losing a parent or sibling for them. Osnos speculates the deepest motive may be primal, an innate appetite for status. The fortune is the monument the ultra-rich build for themselves. Therefore, some plan for cryogenic freezing after death. It could enable them to come back alive when future technology makes it possible.

The last three chapters document the white-collar criminals who fooled and cheated family, friends and others into amassing millions of dollars through ponzi schemes and other fraudulent methods. Among them, the most prominent is Guo Wengui, a billionaire suspected of links to Chinese intelligence, the FBI, and Donald Trump. The FBI arrested him and his accomplice, Kin Ming Je, for fraud exceeding a billion dollars. Their scheme involved bogus cryptocurrency ventures, online memberships, and digital media. Although he is Chinese, Guo used an American formula while in the United States. He attracted followers through technologies of influence, then use their cash to buy political access, status, and luxury, which burnished his image, attracting even more followers. Today, we live in an era of excess. Still, Guo’s range of indulgences was exceptional. He had a fifty-thousand square foot mansion in Mahwah, NJ, a twelve-thousand square foot mansion in Greenwich, CT, and a $3.5 million Ferrari. Osnos mentions here that Greenwich, CT, is the richest town in the US. Other assets of Guo included a $4.4 million Bugatti, a TV costing $62K, two $36K mattresses, and a $53K fireplace log cradle holder. Guo’s lawyer defended them as a form of political activism, claiming that Guo is just showing people they could live the same life afforded to China’s elites. Guo should know because he was the 74th richest person in China at $4 billion.

Osnos’ portrayal of the ultra-wealthy suggests a world apart from ordinary mortals, inaccessible and alien. The book’s chapters appeared as essays on the ultra-rich in the New Yorker magazine over the years. The details of oligarchic excess reveal how extreme wealth has altered America and its values, creating an exclusive enclave within our society. This trend emerged in the past three decades, a side effect of globalization. Osnos himself grew up in Greenwich, CT, which is one of the top three richest towns in the US. Hence, he is not a peeping Tom targeting the ultra-wealthy. He observes the Republican clubs in Greenwich and the lives of others in superyachts for social documentation and commentary. His book is an alarm bell to Americans about where the nation is heading. Osnos follows many economists in warning us about the rise of extreme inequality in society. The French economist Thomas Piketty sounded similar alarm bells over a quarter century ago. We can understand the America of today only by comprehending the rise of the ultra-rich and how this oligarchy rules the government and our institutions. Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s rise to power, backed by tech billionaires Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai, suggests a radical change. This capture of power has set the stage for stark oligarchic rule to emerge in America. American novelist Jack London warned us about such a future over a century ago in his dystopian novel, “Iron Heels”.

The book is a timely and troubling portrait of the values and anxieties of the ultra-rich - the ruling class of the United States today.

[Lily Scalabrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Call me naive but this was THE craziest book I have ever read. My mouth hung open for so long bats moved in and started families.

[Andrew Pratley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on a series of articles that the author wrote which appeared in the New Yorker magazine. I say this as it makes the book an easy read. It also means that it is not a serious academic enquiry into the current state of the seriously rich. They are if your concerned for them doing okay but they are becoming increasingly worried about growing criticism of their greed, power & other excesses. Reading multiple books on the French Revolution recently I know where this can lead when the majority of the population get fed up with gross inequality & take the law into their own hands. For now the seriously rich are seeking greater physical isolation. Hence the boom in increasingly longer yachts, gated communities, bunkers & places like New Zealand which are both civilized along with being a long way from anywhere.

[Aaron James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read that I would encourage to anybody who is thinking about the wealthy, whether as a critique or as a sense of admiration. This book talks about some interesting ideas that I hadn't really thought of before, and some that I had thought of, but hadn't thought about in years. Below are a few of my thoughts and notes I made while reading the book:

The idea of inverting risk is such an elementary concept, but something we forget so often. What are the odds of something going wrong in 5 years versus what are the odds of NOTHING going wrong in 5 years?

When we confiscate these yachts why do we have to continuously maintain them? Is that some maritime law? I might have missed it while I was reading, but the numbers the authro throws out are insane and it's kind of wild that we're paying to do that.

As a person working on a yacht, getting paid $1,000 per foot of the yacht length per year seems really low especially for the captains, chefs, and everyone else that would be of higher acclaim. For a 100-ft yacht that's only $100,000 a year and when you think about it, those yachts cost upwards of multiple millions of dollars just to purchase, that seems like a really low wage for some of these millionaires and billionaires that own them. And then of course you have the implication, right? You're all alone on the boat in the middle of the ocean with these crew members and you're only paying them a handful of dollars compared to what you're networth is...

When discussing survivalism, I like the point one of the interviewees makes when he brings up the concept of instead of investing in escapism they should invest in solutions, and how these tech bros or techies have all the means to solve these problems but instead they're spending all this money to try to escape them. He brings up the point that at the end of the day, they can't really escape because all the resources they buy will still be finite and they will still run out at some point, and they can't possibly think of every issue that they're going to have to overcome. I'm glad one of the expreppers brought this up and was turning his prepping friends against the concept. Focusing on solving the problems instead of running from them is probably cheaper in the long run, and probably more of a pay off in the long run as well.

In the Facebook section, the idea and motto of "connecting people" is really just code for growing the network. Another book that goes really really in depth on this is The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff.

Anytime a company says that the government needs to get rid of a policy on the grounds of "they shouldn't stand in the way of innovation", you know they're up to something skeezy.

Imagine creating a social media platform that is so influential and so powerful in some countries that when it causes social problems a country's government has to literally shut down the internet. How wild.

When the economists become the economy, finances and earnings matter more than productivity and actually developing a product and bringing it to market then markets fail. Numbers in a bank ledger with no product or added value to back them up don't mean anything, and those flimsy columns of chalk eventually turn the powder. Then the government has to get involved and the government gets so focused on monitoring the bankers and the financial institutions that they stop paying attention to the labor markets and the labor systems, and then the working class gets forgotten about. Then all the labor laws fall away. BUT THEN the banks and the wealthy can pay off the government entities that are monitoring them so all that attention that's focused on those bank systems doesn't matter anyways. This leaves this weird void where all the government attention is focused on systems that they don't really even care about, and the entity that stands the whole system up and matters the most (the working class) get's completely forgotten because the government doesn't have enough resources allocated to actually do anything with it. Of course, the author explains it way better.

It's so frustrating that, how even with all the resources and advantages these wealthy people have with their station in the world, they still use their resources and their wealth to penny off more advantage by cheating on tests and paying off politicians and paying off law enforcement and doing all sorts of illegal things to get ahead when they don't even need to get ahead. They're already ahead. They don't need the extra advantage.

Financial advisors for the ultra wealthy are there to protect the assets from the family. Quite literally. Generational decline occurs within three generations. Guarding the corpus.


Gerentocracy allows for elites to have other elites that they can blame. Yes, even elites have other elites that they can point a finger at for the cause of their problems.

Socially responsible investing became environmental social governance which became impact investing as 'environmental' and 'social' became non-buzz words. Now everything is based on 'tax strategic investments' that loosely align with a conscience.

The arch of fortunes fades in three generations as summed up in different cultures:
America: fortune goes from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations.
Japan: the third generation ruins the house.
Germany: acquire it, inherit it, destroy it.
That's a submerged whale is not yet harpooned

The wealth defense industry is the banking of the future.

Old money was largely centered on the thought that you had to keep your money working to justify its existence.

Buy, borrow, die.

The author touches on how the modern day idea of tax efficiency is finding a way to live between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Actually, maybe this is kind of the modern idea of ANY kind of legal efficiency.

Anyways, those were some of the thoughts I had while reading the book. I thought it was a good read!

[Writer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great audiobook read by the author. The biggest takeaway is the human insecurity felt by the rich elite and the steps they take to address it.

Gigayachts are the most expensive possession that are not productive ($250 million and more). Yachts have gotten bigger and more expensive - Veblen goods, the waste is the point.

Exclusivity is the point. The yachters want access and do favors for each other.

Wealth based on oil, data, capital, telecom, crypto.

Yachters go from Florida to Monaco/Italy. Yachts offer secrecy.

Chaos monkeys - tech bros doing lasik and surviving collapse, stockpiling on real estate for passive income, civil war, second passports, radical self reliance, without rule of law, taken on faith based on founding myth, faith based collapse will be first found in Reddit according to Steve Huffman, severe downside so spending some money on insurance is good. Apocalypse insurance in New Zealand. Many fear that civil disorder as AI takes jobs.

New Zealand popular among moguls.

Private gigs now done by all artists for lots of money, despite human rights. Digital giants pay fraction of physical sales and birth of new aristocracy.

Flo Rida focused on universal appeal. Formula - 30 private gigs a year. Sponsors vs artists is ancient. Seneca hates it. Art vs commerce. Streaming and music piracy destroyed art. Fans have to concede their piracy. Pirate acts are soul destroying for older acts but younger acts are more commercial. But in streaming economy, people are just surfing and it’s just content. Artists only have 3-4 years and don’t think long time. There are people just listening to playlists. Caste system - tribes of culture vs tribes of capital. Relational labor. Privates pay much more than the theaters. Evolution of culture - Trump corroded.

Mooch - rich people want access to famous people. They also want uniqueness and experiential things that make them feel unique. Talent buying. People love being loved. People love watching people watch themselves. And how much money is too much money?

Facebook focuses on growth, had nudges and behavioral levers such as organ donation and I voted button. Dark patterns. Sean Parker and Tristan Harris - persuasive tech that amplifies loneliness.

The shift of Greenwich republicans to MAGA. Buckley, Goldwater backlash against New Deal and moderate Republicans. Fable of doing it all by yourself.

Tucker Carlson’s darker message about the ruling elite. Pareto found 20% of people owned 80% property, adopted elite. Economic, administrative, security power. Entrenched inequality and power elite. Pareto’s situation is similar to today. Prole drift of middle class. Status hierarchy game. Losers in intra-elite conflict - Peter Turchik. Crisis DB. Top heavy that it tips over.

Wealth managers. Estate planning tax loopholes. Golden Age of loopholes. Inheritance dodges. Divide up days between states. Avoid income, take loans, and take advantage of stepped up basis and don’t have to pay taxes on gains. Endurance of generational wealth. Trust is not a gift because it’s an annuity, GRAT every month. Cheap, simple, and easy to repeat. 4x a year go to Nevada. Walton GRAT. Teddy bear test.

Hollywood is all about faking until making it, nobody knows the source of money. Bluffing during audition. Hollywood accounting. Insiders club. Zack Horowitz did not have an endgame. American artifice. Think and Grow Rich. Donald Trump.

Chinese collaborator turned MAGA. Symbiotic relationship between entrepreneurs and apparatchiks. Called White Gloves. Appeasing officials’ vanity. Purges. Life and death game. Bribes and blackmail. Commercial cadres, use business to cultivate intelligence so win-win. Civilian cutout can travel without notice. Competition within elite. Sell Intelligence and transactional relationship with agencies. Align with politicians. Money with Washington. Media influence: wash, rinse, repeat. Represents faction in intra party fight. Gray mail - hard to prosecute because they have too many secrets. Be careful of allying with dubious, ends justify the means.

White collar support group. Psychological distance. Get proximate by Bryan Steveson. Like migrants - one foot in one, one foot in another. Shame does not help.

[AndiReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ever wondered how billionaires prepare for the apocalypse, celebrate a bat mitzvah, and rewrite tax law—all before brunch?"

Welcome to The Haves and the Have-Yachts, Evan Osnos’s sharp, and dark, and unnervingly intimate look at America’s richest 0.01%. This is no glitzy exposé meant to dazzle us with price tags and name-drops. Osnos opens the curtain on a world that is power. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Each essay (from the New Yorker series) is its own dispatch from the top of the wealth pyramid—yacht decks, private island bunkers, tax havens with better customer service than your doctor’s office. But this isn’t just journalism for the rubberneckers; it’s real analysis. What starts as amusing or absurd such as a $500,000 toddler birthday party, a Gulfstream jet painted to match the owner's mood board, spirals quickly into commentary on influence, inequality, and how deeply American democracy is shaped by the whims of those who can afford to float above it.

What makes this collection standout is not just the access, it’s Osnos’s ability to balance sharp cultural critique with unexpected nuance. A disgraced tycoon in a white-collar therapy group doesn’t just serve as a punchline. Instead, he’s a cautionary tale of what happens when delusion meets deregulation. A yacht becomes not a floating palace, but a metaphor for mobility, insulation, and moral drift.

There’s a quiet through-line here, too: fear. Fear of losing status. Fear of the poor. Fear of death, discomfort, irrelevance. For all their power, these are people who build their lives around never having to say no, and Osnos makes you feel how fragile (and how bizarre) that existence really is.

If you read The White Lotus as a documentary or keep a running list of billionaires who’ve run for president, this is your next read. And if you’re still unsure how wealth disparity became this unhinged, Osnos offers a history lesson tucked inside a yacht party and lets you decide if you still want to RSVP!
Thank you Netgalley and Scribner. #thehaveandthehave-yachts #yachtrock #evanosnos
#scribner

[Andrea Proser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent journalism repackaged in a loosely connected book of essays. It’s more cautionary tale than lifestyles of the rich and famous. Interesting, but not what I expected (or, salaciously, wanted to read).

Also, its politicalization irked me. I don’t even disagree with it but, again, just not what I expected. Maybe I missed a political tagline describing the book. If so, then it’s fair game (I know, I know, it’s from “The New Yorker” and I actually first heard about it on NPR, so that’s probably on me…whatever).

It so blatantly seemed to conclude-by nature of logic and omission-that no democrats are rich and corrupt. I don’t dispute any single one of those tales he addressed, but their party homogeneity implies that all democrats are generous, rule-following, and ONLY-REASONABLY and DESERVING wealthy Americans…and all Republicans are Mr. Burns. (Maybe the Getty chapter had some Democrats with good intentions?) The unexpected bias became unavoidably glaring when Pelosi, the Bidens, and Sanders were referenced without any mention of the wealth they’ve accrued through loopholes and/or access to power. (I’d have appreciated a discussion of using their influence more benevolently, even, if that’s the premise.)

Or when the college scandal parents were discussed without their party or political connections deconstructed, consistent with all the other essays. With that omission, I’m guessing some were Democrats.

All I’m saying, is that if we’re addressing systemic corruption, call it out everywhere. Or make the case that it’s not everywhere. And maybe it doesn’t have to be. I want to read that book!