Sort of. It's AN establishment with a lot of power, but it's not well-connected to THE establishment. There are a few types of ultrarich: 1) People whose powe

Sort of. It's AN establishment with a lot of power, but it's not well-connected to THE establishment. There are a few types of ultrarich: 1) People whose power is in institutions. For example, wealthy European land-owning families, Saudi princes, etc. These vary in liquid wealth, but can swing trillions of dollars in power. 2) People who made money long enough for money to be liquid. Bill Gates is in the class. They have money, and can use all of it. Gates has a lot less power than people in the above class. 3) People whose money is all in one place. Jeff Bezos is like this. If he tried to sell all his Amazon stock at once, Amazon would tank. His paper worth is in the same ballpark as Gates, but he has a lot less power. 4) People whose money is locked down. E.g. pre-IPO founder of a unicorn. They can have astronomical paper net worth, but little real power in comparison to Bezos.