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.

  • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    So rather than using a portion of the influence their riches grant them to try and make the situation better and prevent the end result of those global events they are anxious about, they just selfishly create private enclaves where they hope they can be safe while they watch the world burn…

    .

    Fucking sociopathic parasites.

    • mortrek@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      Unless they kill the people that build them, there will be plenty of people who know about these places. If we get the point of actually needing bunkers those people (who know the ins and outs of the bunkers) will want in. Nobody will protect the rich who had them built, because their money and influence will become worthless and nobody actually likes them. At best, they will live a miserable, lonely existence until they die. At worst, they will be torn apart by the masses.

      If the world ends, I want to die with everyone else.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        The same people who make giant business mistakes every year think they can cover all their bases for a world shattering catastrophe.

        • nilloc
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          8 months ago

          They got rich getting in early, or on the ground floor, of whatever market they’ve exploited, and think survival in an apocalypse is the same.

          We need to start a map of these places and start fucking with them NOW not later. Make them regret building them before they ever need something like that.

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            This is how the Right wins elections.

            The Left fragments and has dozens of small, separate groups pursuing varied ends. Some worry about the environment;’ others work on immigration or another issue.

            The Right falls in line and does what the Leadership tells them to d

        • s_s@lemmy.one
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          8 months ago

          They’re still rich tho.

          That’s where their arrogance comes from.