
A Boom Time for the Bunker Business and Doomsday Capitalists - mariojv
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/apocalypse-doomsday-capitalists.html
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word-reader
These are some cool bunkers, but it reminds me of an article from a few years
back, maybe from HN? An expat had a nice house in some Central American
country back in the 70s or 80s when there was a coup with a lot of rioting and
looting of the more well-off. Some people start freaking out, grabbing golf
clubs and such, but the owner is able to get in touch with his army friend who
just sends a jeep with a 50 cal and a couple soldiers to park near his house.
He wasn't looted.

It seems like these sort of connections will matter more in a doomsday
situation than how deep your bunker is. How do these people living in various
states plan on even getting to their bunkers in Kansas if the "shit hits the
fan", as they say? I think a fair benchmark is Mexico today, where it isn't
safe to drive between many cities at night, and on some roads during the day.
Not like, "you might hit a deer", but "you might hit a cartel roadblock and be
robbed, raped, or murdered". And everybody already knows approximately where
the bunkers are. These people had better plan on getting their timing exactly
right, or they'd be in for the same.

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jcranmer
Articles about individuals' backup plans for catastrophic collapse of
civilization do tend to crop up every now and then; this isn't the first one
I've seen.

I think one of the key fallacies that goes on in these circles is that people
don't really think through what a catastrophic collapse of civilization looks
like. A 2000-mile drive is quite a long trek to take, and attempting it in a
post-apocalyptic scenario requires a lot of planning (for example, what are
you planning to do for gas, food, rest?). A diesel generator is a lousy power
supply in the apocalypse, because diesel is a resource that is going to run
out quickly and need to be procured.

For these luxury bunkers, I suspect some of the demand is because they look
like assets that might be easier to hide from nosy people like the taxman.

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save_ferris
It’s always kinda bugged me that some tech companies and their CEOs talk such
a huge game about changing the world for the better and then turn around and
build these huge bunkers. Optimistic words without optimistic action rings
tremendously hollow.

~~~
malandrew
Every time I go hiking/camping away from civilization I take an emergency
satellite beacon with me even though I am optimistic about coming home without
issue.

~~~
save_ferris
You're taking a piece of technology that allows you to communicate with
civilization while in a remote area. These bunkers are designed to protect and
isolate their inhabitants from the outside world altogether. Your example
doesn't seem analogous at all to the point I'm trying to make.

The idea that wealthy and powerful can just jettison themselves from the
society they led in the event that things go downhill says a lot about what
they actually think about our society.

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andrewstuart
I reckon the Bezos bunker would be worth seeing. I believe he has a 10,000
year clock in there.

[https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/20/17031836/jeff-
bezos-...](https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/20/17031836/jeff-bezos-
clock-10000-year-cost)

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Despegar
This is exactly why Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax is a great idea.

~~~
malandrew
You do realize that all this bunker construction, prepper consultation and
long-term foodstuffs is keeping a lot of people gainfully employed. You
basically want to put them out of business.

~~~
johnday
The thing is, those jobs do not provide serious long term benefits for
humanity. Large infrastructure projects, like the ones that major governments
can green light (for example, space travel, quality parks services, education
etc) do. It also helps even the playing field so that poorer people are less
likely to be disenfranchised. A noble goal in itself but it also probably
helps reduce the likelihood of an end-of-world scenario.

Keeping hundreds of people working on insurance projects for the super-rich is
not the best allocation of funds, and we have the power to change that
allocation.

~~~
fuzz4lyfe
If you believe that the wealthy should only spend their money in a way that
provides for "serious long term benefits for humanity" I ask you to enter your
income into this website and then come back and tell me if you still feel that
way.

[http://www.globalrichlist.com/](http://www.globalrichlist.com/)

~~~
johnday
Just did, and I do. But I'm not going to start doing it until someone forces
me to, because I'm fallible.

Edit: but for what it's worth, I do spend all my free money on trying to
create wealth and jobs for people who don't have it.

~~~
fuzz4lyfe
Thanks for the honesty. When you realize that it isn't the 1% vs the 99% but
more like the .1% vs the 1% it all starts to look a little silly doesn't it?
Wealthiest people ever to live on earth complaining that other people have
more than they do.

~~~
johnday
It's a valid thing to complain about - same as we complain about the world's
great polluters despite being way up there ourselves. The means and
opportunity to say "hey, this isn't fair" is something not everyone has, and I
think, since we can, we should.

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_bxg1
What a sad existence, to spend all your time and large amounts of your money
dwelling on far-flung fears of catastrophe instead of living your life, which
is finite no matter what you do.

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LargoLasskhyfv
I'm amused by this. Even by only looking at the lead photo, i have to wonder
what do they hope to achieve with those COTS cameras? I mean, this is America
where guns and rifles of all sorts are widely available. Are they decoys to
draw the fire away from the other, more camouflaged ones? Do they work in
infrared even when some red flares are thrown into their FOV? Or blinded by
laser pointer?

Then somewhat into the article: ...'connected the former missile site to the
grid' What for? Got an apocalypse level SLA with Exelon? Did they bury the
lines? And the next substation? Is it guarded? Will it be if SHTF? What does a
little bit of thermite do on top of a transformator? Or a mast? An angle
grinder? Maybe even a saw?

Why not bring some welders and (maybe hotwired) heavy construction equipment
to the bunker cracking party? And some dynamite just for kicks?

Smoke bombs and cyanide capsules from M44 traps?

Do they really think they will be the only ones being prepared, organized and
stocked, able to wait it out until the unwashed masses dwindled away?

Did they prepare for 40ft snow or volcanic ashes? What about other, novel
extreme weather like ARkStorms?

Remember Offut AFB in March? That wasn't even extreme. Just shit that
happened.

Reminds me of my town of birth which had a nuclear bunker in the parking
garage of the opera house. Next to a large river. What could go wrong?

Anyways, my take on this is take it like in 2012 (2009)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Kbym7WYzs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Kbym7WYzs)

instead of mutating into the bomb worshippers of [2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_Planet_of_the_Apes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_Planet_of_the_Apes)

[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl14xh4GSrc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl14xh4GSrc)

Because [4]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8fkrPP_0qA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8fkrPP_0qA)

PUSSIES! (just kidding) ;-)

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Scoundreller
I’m not going to lie, the pictures look pretty good.

