Rude to Waiters? Money Just Reveals It | The Haves and Have-Yachts by Evan Osnos

Twenty-nine people. A billionaire census released this year counted fewer than 3,800 billionaires on the planet, and just 29 of them hold 27.2 percent of the group's wealth. So what does money on that scale actually buy? Some of it ends up at a marina in Florida, where a greeter checks your shoes before deciding whether you get on the boat. Evan Osnos, a New Yorker writer and National Book Award winner, calls The Haves and Have-Yachts "a kind of field guide to the ultrarich." Early on there's a line I keep coming back to: money, like power, might change you, "but, first, it will reveal you." In this video: why a $90 million secondhand superyacht counted as modest at the Palm Beach boat show; the Jet Ski, the coral reef and "the boat will pay for it"; what happened to oligarchs' yachts after Russia invaded Ukraine, and how the seized Amadea was finally sold; Silicon Valley's apocalypse insurance and the dinner question nobody could answer; the Getty trust fight, "only the little people pay taxes," and a support group for white-collar felons; Osnos's one-word answer, distance; and what it all means for the rest of us. Chapters: 0:00 Money trail 1:12 Yacht life 3:52 Wartime yachts 5:26 Doomsday plans 6:58 Crossing lines 10:31 Buying distance This video is my personal reading of the book: a summary and commentary that reflects my own views, not those of the author or publisher. Image notes: the boat show, marina, Maldives yacht, private jet and ranch footage is illustrative only and does not show the boats, people or places in the book. Mark Zuckerberg's yacht Launchpad and the seized yacht Amadea are the real vessels. Rights note: the photo of Reddit cofounder Steve Huffman is from Wikimedia Commons and marked CC BY 2.0, but its author field also carries a Sportsfile copyright notice, so the agency's own terms may differ. The booking photo of Leona Helmsley is marked public domain on Commons, but it comes from a copy published by a website rather than a government archive, so its chain cannot be checked. If you hold rights, please leave a comment and I will remove or amend promptly. Book: The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich by Evan Osnos (Simon & Schuster, 2025) Music: "Before Nightfall", "Bygones", "Dragonfly", "I Stepped Out in the Sunshine", "I'm the Villain", "In the Peak Bar", "Jazz by Night", "The Detective", "The Search", "The Unveiling", "With the Dawn" from Epidemic Sound (epidemicsound.com) Sound effects: Mixkit (mixkit.co), free license. Photos via Wikimedia Commons by Sukkoria (CC BY-SA 4.0); Los Angeles Daily News (CC BY 4.0); EgorovaSvetlana (CC BY-SA 4.0); Richard N Horne (CC BY 4.0); startupofyou (CC BY 2.0); Photo by Cody Glenn/Web Summit via Sportsfile©SPORTSFILE (CC BY 2.0); Euthman (CC BY 4.0); TechCrunch (CC BY 2.0); World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland (CC BY-SA 2.0); Mygeorgianguide (CC BY-SA 4.0); Anthony Quintano from Westminster, United States (CC BY 2.0) License texts: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Direct links to every photo are in the pinned comment. Other footage: Mixkit (mixkit.co), free license; Wikimedia Commons public domain where not listed above. Book cover: The Haves and Have-Yachts by Evan Osnos (Simon & Schuster), shown for identification. #TheHavesAndHaveYachts #HavesAndHaveYachts #EvanOsnos #BookSummary #Billionaires