Oligarchy—How Covid-19 and the world’s response to it is affecting the super-rich. And us.
Hello, and welcome to Oligarchy. We are tracking how COVID-19 and the world’s response to it is affecting the super-rich — and what that means for power and politics. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
None of us are doing much moving around at the moment — the most exciting thing I’ve done in weeks is visit the supermarket — but the consequences of this enforced stability mean more than just entrenched ennui for those lucky enough not to have fallen sick: it could have prolonged and perhaps irreversible consequences for how democracy and wealth relate to each other, which we need to understand.
MOBILITY IS FROZEN
I live beneath the flightpath between Heathrow and JFK, and flights are now so rare that we stop to look at them when they pass over, twinkling dots trailing feathery clouds of contrail.
- Private jet flights are down two-thirds from last year, and showing few signs of picking up.
- With countries locked down, there’s nowhere for a private jet to fly to, and few commercial flights to take either.
Why should we care: this sudden freeze has changed the calculation that underpins kleptocracy: what’s the point of stealing a fortune if you can’t spend it in a major global city? Some enterprising businesses are sending round butlers to serve food to oligarchs at home. But really, this forced immobility is more of a concern for oligarchs than an opportunity.