Summary

Osnos examines the ultra-wealthy class – now holding more than the Rockefeller era. The book spans yacht culture, hedging against AI-driven societal revolt, Zuck's growth obsession, and the wealth defense industry. Central insight: "when elites become ingrown, impenetrable, and insensitive, society becomes unstable."

“Exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology – how do we consume as much of your time and attention as possible?”

“The system will always do whatever it can to preserve itself.”

Key Takeaways

Notes

Introduction

• The ultra wealthy now hold more than the Rockefeller days (roaring 20s)
• Elon has brought it back to the forefront

1: The rewards - how to spend it

1: The floating world

• Super yacht boom
• Boats can absorb the most excess capital
• A single deal on a yacht can pay it all off

2: Survival of the richest

• Survivalism in Silicon Valley
• Hedging
• Likely cause? AI → societal revolt
  • Comp: Russian revolution
• New Zealand safe haven
• Doomsday clock

3: One for the money

• Private performances: musicians for sale
  • Flo Rida 30 private gigs / year
• Show off vs keep quiet
• 4 places for the rich: art, private aircraft + yachting, charity (namesake), experiental

2: The mechanics - how to keep it

4: Zuck: ghost in the machine

• Zuck is aggressive, competitive
• Facebook + social media’s problem
• Admittedly not polished
• Knew he was special
• Scaling + growth > everything
• “Exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology” - “how do we consume as much of your time and attention as possible”
• Pleading 99% of wealth
• Ability to reject complaints
• Excessive optimism
• Cult of growth → curse of bigness
• Needs to make Facebook “good”, optimize for care in the same way he did growth

5: The Greenwich rebellion

• How republicans learned to love Trump
• Greenwich, CT billionaires
• Restraint vs greed
• HW Bush → Reagan (old vs new reps)
• Value from capital → labor
• Tax evasion
• Why Trump? Ideologies > personalities (“a luxury we don’t have”)
• Morals and power
• Tax cuts
• Self > service

6: Ruling class rules

• How to thrive in the elite while calling it your enemy
• “Elites” has little meaning now
• Pareto: there must be a circulation of elites
• ↑ when they become ingrown, impenetrable, and insensitive, society becomes unstable
• We’re hardwired to pursue status
• 1930-1970s “the great compression”
• Cotton → industrial → media → finance → tech elites
• The iron law of oligarchy: elites will always work to keep themselves in place
• Trump has used the unspecified “they” more than any candidate in history

7: Trust issues

• Impact investing: “capitalism with progressive characteristics”
• Trust funds
• Estate planning loopholes
• “The wealth defense industry”
• “Only morons pay the estate tax”
• States competing for most lax laws
• “The system will always do whatever it can to preserve itself”

3: The Perils - how to lose it

8: Land of make-believe

• Bluffing / “self-mythologizing”
• Zach Horowitz

9: Patriot games

• Billionaire Guo Lin Gui linked to Chinese intelligence, the FBI, and Trump
• “White gloves”: people who do the dirty work
• Shadow gov’t: new federal state of China
• Intra-CCP fight
• Bannon + Biden’s laptop + 2020 election
• “A wilderness of mirrors”

10: Life after white collar crimes

• Many white collar convicts get back to business right after
• Financial crisis lack of jailing was a “catastrophic misreading of the law”
• ↑→ historic levels of inequality
• Main change: increasing (psychological) distance between perpetrators and their victims
• Culture of insular business communities determines actions most
• “I saw what I perceived as a very corrupt system”