EVAN OSNOS: “The Haves and Have-Yachts”

About this episode

Evan Osnos discusses the implications of wealth among America's ultrarich and their influence on society.

In this episode of Beyond the Page, recorded live at the 2025 Writers Conference, New Yorker staff writer and National Book Award-winning author Evan Osnos dives into the bold-faced, always entertaining, and all too timely topic of how much is too much in our society—or rather, how much is never enough? Such is the question for the billionaires who now make up America’s ultrarich. Their giant yachts, luxury compounds—and, oh yes, tax schemes—are a source of endless, if alarming, fascination. Osnos talks about his bestselling book The Haves and Have-Yachts and the acquisitive appetites and habits of our new “oligarchs” and how their outsized fortunes are allowing them to hold sway over the elections and the economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Sun Valley Writers’ Conference

Guest: Evan Osnos

Topics covered

• billionaires
• wealth inequality
• luxury lifestyle
• politics
• economy
• society

Keywords

• billionaires
• yachts
• wealth
• tax schemes
• oligarchs
• elections
• economy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New Yorker

Books & works: The Haves and Have-Yachts

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