Atossa Araxia Abrahamian's book The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World (as discussed in this Coda Story interview) reveals the parallel world inhabited by the super-rich. Here's what you are missing out on because you were too lazy to have been born into wealth.
- A hidden legal universe: The wealthy don't just navigate laws — they create their own. "If you look at the map of the world, you'll see 192 countries. But what isn't shown on the map is all the stuff in between and above and beneath," Abrahamian notes. In Dubai's International Financial Center, judges operate remotely from around the world, creating what she calls "new jurisdiction within the existing one, almost like nesting dolls."
- Secret storage and art as currency: In Geneva's freeports, the ultra-wealthy can hide valuable assets indefinitely. Abrahamian finds this particularly troubling: "Putting art in crates, where people can't look at it, for tax reasons or so someone can obscure its value from an ex-spouse feels deeply wrong." She explains how art becomes more than art: "If you're very wealthy, there are only so many places to put your money: real estate, stocks, and art is just another asset class."
- Cities within cities: Growing up in Geneva, Abrahamian witnessed this parallel world firsthand. "When I was a teenager, a lot of the kids I grew up with had parents who were diplomats, so they had diplomatic plates on their cars and some degree of immunity. I remember an ex-boyfriend who was speeding and nothing happened because of those plates. Or someone would be smoking pot and the cops would say, 'I know who your mother is, I know who your father is,' and then do nothing."
- The tech elite's new frontiers: Modern tech billionaires are taking this further, creating charter cities and private jurisdictions. "For the tech elite, they thought: 'We don't even need to lobby Washington; we can create our own rules,'" Abrahamian explains. These spaces offer "business-friendly, with no taxes and streamlined bureaucracy" environments, though she warns, "The catch? It's not democratic."
- The ultimate escape: Some wealthy individuals are looking even further — to space itself. As Abrahamian notes, "The ultimate charter city — or tax haven — could be in space," a frontier where the ultra-wealthy could establish their ideal conditions without earthly constraints.
This hidden world thrives on what Abrahamian calls "legal fiction" — spaces where traditional rules don't apply. As she observes about her hometown of Geneva: "The city punches so far above its weight class… There's so much you want to know, so much that you can't know. There's this blankness you encounter — almost like an invisible wall."
Previously:
• Elite Panic: why rich people think all people are monsters
• Diversity is for show; Harvard study shows Harvard is for rich people
• IRS admits it audits poor people because auditing rich people is too expensive
• No jail time for rich-kid rapist who assaulted multiple victims
