Introducing “Oligarch Watch”
A new monthly column from The Nation takes on the plutocrats wielding their wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us.
Contact: Caitlin Graf, The Nation, press [at] thenation.com, 212-209-5400
New York, NY—The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture, today announced the launch of “Oligarch Watch,” a new monthly column that is a natural continuation of the magazine’s long and proud tradition of speaking truth to power to build a more just society. In our 160th anniversary year and in this unprecedented era of rising inequality, advocating for a more equitable world remains core to the magazine’s mission.
Penned by longtime economic researcher and campaigner Chuck Collins, a leading thinker and writer on inequality in America, “Oligarch Watch” will profile the plutocrats wielding their wealth and power to further enrich themselves at the expense of workers, our communities, and our environment. Crisscrossing industries and centers of power in the US, Collins will tackle oligarchy in action to spotlight the crushing monopoly power billionaires yield, and showcase how these individuals disrupt every corner of our lives—from housing to healthcare, democracy to the climate—holding this country hostage and profiting the 1 percent at the expense of the greater public good.
Collins’s first installment, “Ralph de la Torre: The Making of a Healthcare Oligarch,” looks at one man’s rise to unaccountable power and the price the rest of us pay—in money and in blood. His second, “Meet the ‘Coal-i-garch’ Jim Grech, CEO of Peabody Energy,” reports on Trump’s extraordinary and unprecedented payback schemes to further enrich the fossil fuel oligarchs who helped get him elected.
“As someone who has learned a great deal from Chuck Collins’s work over the years, and as a huge fan of The Wealth Hoarders in particular, I can’t think of anyone better equipped to guide Nation readers through the byzantine byways of America’s ruling oligarchy,” said The Nation’s special correspondent and outgoing editor, D.D. Guttenplan.
“We’re witnessing the capture and corruption of our political system by the billionaire oligarch class,” added Collins. “I’m excited to shine a spotlight on some of the lesser-known oligarchs and rising plutocrats who are deploying their wealth, power, and position to extract more wealth from the rest of us and society. At 160 years old, The Nation has weathered historic gilded ages and is the perfect platform to investigate the harms caused by oligarchy and their hired agents.”
For interview requests or further information, please see contact information above.
ABOUT: Chuck Collins pens the monthly column “Oligarch Watch” for The Nation. He is the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits Inequality.org. An expert on US inequality, author of over 10 books and dozens of reports covering climate disruption, philanthropy, the racial wealth divide, affordable housing, and billionaire wealth dynasties, his forthcoming book is Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet (New Press, October 2025). Previous books include The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions, Born on Third Base, and, with Bill Gates Sr., Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes. Collins lives in Guilford, Vermont.
Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.
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