It’s a sign that at least some of the ultra-rich are anxious about global events and are making contingency plans for the Big One — whatever form that may take.
The feeling is very much in the air. Architectural Digest named “luxury bunkers” one of the real estate trends of 2023, and a finely appointed redoubt figured prominently in the recent Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind.
Bradley Garrett said the most elaborate bunker he found while researching his book (Bunker: Building for the End Times) is the Survival Condo, located in a former missile silo in Kansas. Built around 2010 by a property developer who used to work for the U.S. Department of Defence, this “nuclear-hardened” structure features walls up to 2¾ metres thick and can house between 36 and 75 people.
In addition to providing each unit with a five-year supply of “freeze-dried and dehydrated survival food,” the complex contains an indoor pool, a classroom, a library and two floors of hydroponic gardens to “provide fresh produce.” It also has filtered air and water supplies. Units go for between $1.5 million and $3 million.
Crazy. If they’d stopped hoarding as much wealth as they could, they wouldn’t need to worry about fucking bunkers.
You hit the nail squarely on head. Please accept this award, which is the best I can offer. 🍕🍪🪙
Units go for between $1.5 million and $3 million.
That’s not even ultra-rich shit, it’s just simple-rich. It’s missing a few zeroes.
In a 2022 piece for the Guardian, technology pundit Douglas Rushkoff talked about attending a highly secretive gathering with ultra-wealthy people who wanted to pick his brain about how to prepare for “the event.” They peppered him with questions not only about shelters, but also the wisdom of acquiring mercenary armies and where on Earth they were likely to be most safe.
His conclusion: “Their extreme wealth and privilege served only to make them obsessed with insulating themselves from the very real and present danger of climate change, rising sea levels, mass migrations, global pandemics, nativist panic and resource depletion. For them, the future of technology is about only one thing: escape from the rest of us.”
These people seem to think you can just find ammo, fuel, food, etc. lying around, or it can be looted forever, or they’ll be able to stockpile enough. Ha!
One, these are very wealthy people who have been accustomed to being served, and having unrestricted space to roam about and enjoy. Stick them in a small bunker with rationed resources for more than 48 hours, and they’ll be plotting how to get rid of each other within 6 hours.
Two, resources are finite! Let’s say we have a reenactment of the French Revolution. How long do they think the peasants are going to wait for them? The peasants are going to build a town on top of their banker called “FU&FO”. Air vents will be blocked or used as toilets, solar panels will be repurposed, and their view will be of a guillotine building yard. Unless they have a small reactor and someone who can maintain it, they’ll be living in the dark, eating cold meals, and breathing ever more stale air.
Ammunition and mercenaries? Got news for you, Bezos, there’s a whole lot more good ol’ boys parked out here, just waiting to return their shipment of whoopass.
When will any of these idiots learn from the past? Read your Sun Tzu. The best defense is to surround yourself with friends.
“Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. - Sun Tzu
