The Velvet Rope Economy

Introduction

Under the baking hot sun of an Orlando morning in August, the line at SeaWorld snakes its way past the turnstiles and into the distance toward the vast parking lots. Sweat pours down the faces and backs of the dads, while the moms vainly try to calm screaming toddlers and entertain their fidgety older siblings. Gum sticks to the kids sneakers as parents shell out money for one more bottle of water and the loudspeakers announce yet another delay for the Dolphins Up-Close Tour. When visitors finally arrive at the front of the line, groups are quickly hustled past the dolphin pools, only enabling the weary tourists to briefly touch the captive creatures.

Two miles away, the cast of characters is the same but the atmosphere is completely different. Here, at an oasis called Discovery Cove, parents lounge on daybeds and kids play in hammocks amid lush landscaping. Lines are nowhere to be seen, and there are even private cabanas complete with towel service and fridges stocked with snacks and beverages by an artificial beach. When they are ready, families depart for a personalized Dolphin Swim Experience, with an individual trainer as their guide.

At Discovery Cove, parents and children wade into the dolphin pool, where the boldest visitors can take hold of a dolphin s dorsal fin and go for a gentle ride. Teenagers can break off from the group as part of the Trainer for a Day package, complete with feedings with dolphins, a behind-the-scenes tour, and the opportunity to shadow employees. Other options include a chance to wade beside otters, hand-feed parrots and toucans, or go snorkeling with tropical fish and rays. Both parks are owned by SeaWorld, so Discovery Cove s guests can always hop over to the traditional park for old favorites like the dolphin show. And, for an extra fee, they can skip SeaWorld s lines and reserve the best seats in the house to see the marine mammals.

While thousands of visitors a day throng SeaWorld, daily

NELSON SCHWARTZ has worked as a business reporter at The New York Times since 2007 and currently covers economics.

If you ve wondered how today s rich live why they speed past us at ball games and amusement parks, how a select few never have to wait to see top doctors you need to read The Velvet Rope Economy. You ll never look at boarding a plane or privilege and polarization the same way.
Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of The Power of Habit

Schwartz s tour of the modern economy is a study of not just how the market carves consumers into separate tribal groups, but of how it can create countries within countries whose borders however velvet are incontrovertibly real.
Kanishk Tharoor, The New Republic

Everyone has heard that America is suffering through a second Gilded Age of economic extremes and new levels of privilege and inequality. But very few people are aware of the detailed architecture that builds inequality into daily life. That is what makes Nelson Schwartz s account of the hidden history of privilege so revealing and fascinating and so important."
James Fallows, winner of the National Book Award and author of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America 
 
Timely and essential . . . Through careful reporting and entertaining storytelling, Schwartz unpacks the degree to which wealth insulates the privileged, as well as the dangers of our free-falling transformation into a caste-based society.
Esquire

A masterpiece of beautifully written, carefully reported social commentary. Schwartz is able to take everyday things we already know like the fact that the rich get to live a life entirely distinct from the rest of us and shows, through colorful tales and great storytelling, that this is no curiosity. It is an indictment, a warning, a prediction, and a nuanced vision of our society. This book will become essential reading to understand this moment. But don t let the grandness of his work scare you: it s a fun, surprising read filled with unexpected