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.

  • Rivalarrival
    61·
    9 months ago

    For every one you see, there are dozens you do not. Some mod on here is a billionaire apologist, and keeps removing references to guillotines as “promoting violence”.

    To my way of thinking, accruing and keeping a billion dollars is a deliberate choice. That massive disparity of wealth brings great harm to all of society. We as a society are empowered to declare deliberate, harmful acts to be criminal, and assign a sufficient penalty as to deter.

    Consequently, I suggest that “Being a billionaire” should be made a capital offense.

    I don’t actually want to kill billionaires.

    I want people who become billionaires to be extraordinarily embarrassed by their obscene wealth, and quickly “refund” the excess they “inadvertantly” collected from previous buyers, or failed to pay to workers.

    Barring that, I want the IRS and SEC to confiscate the excess, convey it to liquidators, and keep the proceeds.

    You don’t have to cut off a billionaire’s head to rid the world of billionaires. That billionaire no longer exists when you roll back his wealth to $999,999,999.

    • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
      41·
      9 months ago

      Well said… Although personally, I think building guillotines is a valid communication strategy.

      It really drives the message home when you see videos like “how to build a guillotine for under $100”. That title really says everything

      • Rivalarrival
        31·
        9 months ago

        Agreed.

        Taking the whip out of the hands of the overseer and strangling him with it is not an act of violence. It is an act of humanity.

        Likewise, the guillotine is not a tool of terror. It is a tool of democracy. It is how the third estate told the first and second to go fuck themselves.

        Universal Healthcare is the most visible thing the third estate needs today. The guillotine is for anyone choosing to stand in the way of that need.