I've read (and posted about) numerous articles on the incredible bunkers available to the wealthy. The reality is that money provides options--options that can bring you happiness or, in this case, security. The latest in this string of articles is from the New York Post: "Doomsday dens: How the ultra-rich are souping up their high-tech bunkers for the end times." Past articles I've read have mainly focused on the "doomsday bunkers" that many wealthy have constructed, although they have primarily been bolt holes to which the wealthy would still need to travel. This article mostly focuses, however, on bunkers and shelters being located in (or under) residences.
Graham Harris, a big name in luxury design with London’s SHH Architecture, has seen a shift in what his high-flying clients are asking for.
“Now they’ve really grown in size and stature,” Harris told CNN, pointing out that it’s no longer just about having a bulletproof bathroom. One client turned his entire 3,000-square-foot art gallery into a safe room, complete with its own power supply. Another had his home cinema outfitted as a bunker, complete with filtered air, secure doors and enough provisions to last a week.
The hidden passageways and secret rooms are no longer just for show — they’re real safety features.
Companies like Creative Home Engineering in Arizona are making a killing installing rotating fireplaces that double as secret doors and phone booths that reveal slides to underground bunkers. Forget running for the hills; today’s wealthy are sliding down into their luxurious hideouts, straight past the shark tank and into a flight simulator.
Not that it's necessarily a bad idea, but methinks this is creating a random assortment of stationary high value targets. It's approaching the point at which it will be assumed that someone with greater than X wealth will have a hidden survival bunker of some sort, all one has to do is find it and/or the secret entrance to it to hit the jackpot, and should things deteriorate to such a point the jackpot hunters will have plenty of time to do so.
ReplyDeleteAnd, it's interesting that the bunker owners believe having a bunker beats Having Tribe and maintaining the Abiility of Adaptability and Flexiblity of Movement. Which, possibly or probably, they never had to begin with so it's not considered to be missing.
They probably see themselves as feudal masters in the event of TEOTWAWKI.
DeleteOne would think that the ultra-wealthy would be in the best position to survive a global catastrophe. But it is well established that if such ever happens, it is the poor people living in Third World countries who have the best odds of long-term survival. They are already adapted to hardship and getting by on very little ie. "living off of the land" and subsistence farming. They will not self destruct if they get up one morning to discover they have no electric, no internet, no running water, and the gas pumps and grocery stores have emptied out. The poor in urban areas of developed countries will be the worst off and will be the first to die off. The ultra wealthy in places like the United States, Europe and Asia may eke out a living...but only as long as supplies last. Billionaires they might be, however, they can only survive as long as their food and water supply remains. I don't know of anyone who has stocked decades worth of food, nor is it really feasible to do so.
ReplyDeleteI can't say what they have stocked, as the articles about these bunkers are always very vague. I am reminded of the wealthy Senator/rancher in "Lucifer's Hammer" who became the de facto prince because of his vast land holdings and small army of loyal employees and influence over other ranchers and farmers.
DeleteBillionaires get islands. For a few hundred million, you have to suffocate with your art.
ReplyDeleteI get a Laugh out of all the people who say, "But the 'elite' have Bunkers, and will Survive the Nuclear War,and come out to 'Rule over the Survivors'..." Ha. Ha. I'll bet that "Humungous, Lord of the Wastelands" will have something to say about That. Severe Chaos, even well short of Nukewar, will so Completely Destroy the 'control grid', 'government', and 'law enforcement' that NO ONE, outside of Local Leaders that have the Support and Consent of Local People, is going to have Any Ability to "Rule over the Survivors".
ReplyDeleteRemember Kids, when Chaos Comes, it will be Time for the Butlerian Jihad, as Frank Herbert wrote about -
Smash the Computers and all other parts of the 'control grid'. Remove the Ability of the 'government' to monitor what people Think and Do, only that way is the Road to Freedom.