The Haves and Have Yachts: A Discussion With Evan Osnos

Across the West, and in the U.S. above all, the ultra-wealthy have come to amass enormous influence. The finance and tech sectors have minted new billionaires with great ambitions and visions for politics and society; favorable tax and regulatory systems have allowed the old, preexisting gilded classes to hold onto their wealth and pass it to their descendants.

Evan Osnos, a staff writer for The New Yorker and co-host of The New Yorker’s Political Scene podcast, will make a rare visit to Munich for the launch of the German edition of his latest book on this subject, "The Haves and the Have Yachts." This discussion will address how this new global class has emerged and what sort of effect they have on everything from elections to inequality to tax policy and public attitudes towards politics and society. What are the particular norms, attributes, chief characteristics of this new gilded age? How does this gilded age intersect with increased alienation and polarization that feed distrust and dissatisfaction with government? Osnos will share insights and anecdotes from this world—from the luxury yachts in the title to a support group for convicted white-collar criminals—and address the immense power a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals have in shaping American politics. Moderated by Joshua Yaffa.

Please register in advance via Google Form. Unfortunately, the number of seats for this event are limited.

In cooperation with Heinrich Böll Foundation.

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Evan Osnos is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He is also co-host of The New Yorker’s Political Scene podcast and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of four books, including Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, which won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich, was a New York Times bestseller in 2025.

Joshua Yaffa is the Writer in Residence at Bard College Berlin. He is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and the author of Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia, which won the Orwell Prize in 2021.

This event is a continuation of a Bard College Berlin’s and the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s 2025 event series, “Writing Democracy: Stories, Ideas, and Arguments On and Off the Page.” The series brings prominent journalists and writers to a wider Berlin and German audience to discuss topics of civic and political interest in both Germany and the United States. Through the lens of writing, the series offers a broader exploration of democracy and democratic institutions in the transatlantic context: about politics and society in the U.S. and Europe, the lessons of history, the role for democratic values, and misconceptions on both sides of the Atlantic – all with the aim of strengthening transatlantic ties in a trying moment.

For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Time: 7:00 pm CET/GMT+1

Location: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center (Schumannstraße 8, 10117 Berlin)

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