Inequality has always been with us, but suddenly it seems more extreme than ever. This is partly because it is: in 1978 in the United States, the top 0.1 per cent owned 7 per cent of the nation’s wealth; today, they own 18 per cent. More importantly, the new rich are worse than the old. Finely clad, beautifully housed lords and ladies are more tolerable than Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.

The Haves and The Have-Yachts is a collection of essays on the various insanities of the contemporary ultrarich. Evan Osnos makes it clear in ‘The Floating World’, the book’s first essay, that very big boats (Putin is said to have four) are the most glaring insanity of all. The nouveau ultrarich must have ever larger yachts, the longer the better. This makes no sense. They cost a fortune to buy and own and, however long they are, the number of guests they can accommodate is limited by maritime law. Their value falls over time and they also require permanent crews. They are the worst investment imaginable. The ultrarich buy them solely to outspend their competitors. 

‘The Floating World’ makes for a great introduction, not just thorough but also funny. Even funnier, though more alarming, is ‘Survival of the Richest’. Here too the ultrarich turn out to be bewilderingly stupid. They believe that, because they have so much, a nuclear war or a giant earthquake would