Burning Man's problem with wealth inequality

The very rich might not see themselves as the parasite class. But an increasing number of people do, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

Wealth inequality isn't just a problem for Western governments. Turns out you get it in socialist utopias too. The Burning Man festival in Nevada is supposed to be entirely commerce-free, community-focused, gift-oriented and 100% environmentally friendly. You bring everything you think you might need to survive in the desert with you. You unconditionally gift what you don't need to others. You make part of the gift your own "radical free expression". And you "leave no trace" that you have been there on your departure.

If you like the sound of that, you aren't alone: it is jammed every year. You are also out of luck. This year, says The Times, the festival turned out to be "less Glastonbury and more Gilded Age". Billionaires arrived in private jets, stayed in a fenced off "plug and play" luxury campsite (the White Ocean Camp) fully equipped with air-conditioned yurts, and ate lobster that they definitely did not get hold of in such a way as to fit with the "radical self-reliance" ethos of the festival. The result? Fury. The compound was "stormed by a band of protestors" who cut electricity cords and glued the doors of smart camper vans shut. They were, they said, taking "Burning Man back from the parasite class".

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.