How the Super-Rich Are Preparing for the Collapse

“They sit at the levers of power, vie for the title of ‘biggest yacht’—and anticipate the collapse of the system. Evan Osnos’s reportage reveals how America’s financial elite lives and thinks.

 

Where exactly the boundary lies for the ‘ultra-rich’—the group cited in the title of Evan Osnos’s book—is a matter unlikely to be settled by a single number. Rather, it is defined by the fact that, for these ultra-rich individuals, establishing a genuine yet reasonably discreet status marker—one visible primarily to their peers—through the sheer, unproductive burning of cash is no easy feat. Or at least it wasn’t for some of them, until the yachts entered the picture.

 

While the categorization of these vessels remains fluid, the ongoing competition has now reached the level of ‘giga-yachts’—vessels exceeding ninety meters in length—of which roughly one hundred are already plying the world’s oceans.

 

Meanwhile, the thirty-meter mark is likely to be surpassed by nearly six thousand vessels in the near future—signifying, in effect, merely a wealthy *lower* class.

 

The first of the essays collected by Evan Osnos in this volume is dedicated to the phenomenon of super-, mega-, and giga-yachts—those ‘shrines of superfluous capital.’ Published in *The New Yorker* between 2018 and 2024 (prior to Donald Trump’s re-election), these pieces collectively examine the fusion of ‘big money’ and sociopolitical power in the United States. One might also describe them as chronicling the backstory of the plutocratic takeover of American politics—a takeover shamelessly celebrated by Donald Trump.

Yachts Promise the Rich Autonomy

 

In his previous work—*Travels in the Divided States of America*—published five years ago, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner focused on a restless social middle class; now, he presents a ‘field guide to the ultra-rich,’ complete with an outline of the historical developments that enabled them to attain their current position of dominance.” The rather hermetically sealed world of yachts serves as the entry point for this thoughtfully composed volume. Given the attention that these objects of extreme luxury have enjoyed for some time now, one should not expect any fundamentally new insights. Yet what proves compelling is the skill with which the author manages to give voice to—and orchestrate—a multitude of perspectives: those of the people who keep this world running (and who, aside from the owners themselves, usually make a handsome living from it).

 

This same skill is evident in the other essays as well. One piece immediately transitions from the motif of supposed self-sufficiency—so closely linked to the world of yachts (from the distant horizon, even Peter Thiel’s floating islands, exempt from all government regulation, seem to beckon)—to the phenomenon of "prepping" among the wealthy. This refers to the elaborate preparations undertaken in anticipation of a more or less total breakdown of civil society and infrastructure: think fortress-like estates, bunkers, real estate situated in converted missile silos, helicopters kept fueled and ready for takeoff, and so on.

 

It is, in itself, a significant fact that within circles where individuals sit at the levers of transformative technological developments—and derive immense wealth from doing so—an impending collapse is apparently quite frequently viewed as a distinct possibility, or even a probability.

 

(One of these individuals, notably, speaks of the current moment as "culturally thin ice.")

 

 

Investigations on the Gold Coast

 

Given these admissions, it would come as no surprise if the author were to follow up with a decisive verdict of his own. But with Osnos, such a move is entirely unnecessary. He delivers a subtle jab here and there, but otherwise allows his concise portraits—each embedded within a wealth of well-researched background detail—to speak for themselves, contenting himself with succinct summaries. Analysis and well-chosen interviewees converge in an excellent text that—bolstered by the author’s own childhood memories—traces the transformations of the Republican establishment along Connecticut’s "Gold Coast," in affluent Greenwich. Here—as other authors tracking the genesis of Donald Trump’s rise to dominance within the Grand Old Party have likewise demonstrated—it is essential to examine pivotal decisions and shifts in atmosphere dating back many years.

 

At this provisional endpoint, in any case, stands a form of wealth that no longer feels the need to justify itself; that regards market mechanisms with cynicism; that condones ruthlessness—bordering on cruelty—as a means of generating profit; and that is prepared to disregard all else in favor of the "right" tax policies and deregulation. And a ruling class that has left behind the moderate views of yesteryear and actively fosters the hollowing out of state institutions—unless, of course, those institutions are suddenly needed after all (as in the financial crisis of 2008) to extricate this class from a predicament of its own making.

 

In the book’s concluding section, "big money" no longer figures direct in focus—yet also the repercussions brought about by his rise. For instance, Osnos vividly recounts how a rather unsuccessful actor launched Hollywood’s largest fraudulent Ponzi scheme, managing—at least for a time, and ultimately at the expense of defrauded small investors—to ascend into the ranks of the wealthy. Or he portrays formerly well-heeled businesspeople who gather in a support group for convicted white-collar criminals to exchange advice on prison life and how to get back on their feet after their release. A swan song—though not one that need trouble the ultra-rich.

Evan Osnos: *Yacht or Not Yacht: Dispatches from the World of the Ultra-Rich*. Translated from the English by Andreas Wirthensohn. C.H.Beck Verlag, Munich 2026. 315 pp., paperback, €20.00.”