The Super Rich of Silicon Valley Have a Doomsday Escape Plan | Hacker News Reader

The Super Rich of Silicon Valley Have a Doomsday Escape Plan

bloomberg.com

51 pointspinewurst44 comments

>“It’s become one of the places for people in Silicon Valley, mostly because it’s not like Silicon Valley at all,”

Well folks, the writing is on the wall. Ask Denver and Austin what happened when people from CA figured out that their place was a nice place. I hope the kiwis enjoy it while it lasts. I'm only half joking here.

The article was a fun, if crazy, read. I guess the super-wealthy of silicon valley haven't figured out that survival when things get bad is heavily correlated with your social capital, something they don't seem to have much of. Being holed up in a bunker with a bunch of gold bars and guns won't help you if everyone outside hates you.

> Well folks, the writing is on the wall. Ask Denver and Austin what happened when people from CA figured out that their place was a nice place.

I see CA license plates everywhere with an accompanying Uhaul. CityData and bloggers are REALLY screwing up this country.

A plea to any CA'ers about to move. SLOW YOUR DRIVING DOWN AND FIT IN - DONT BRING CA ATTITUDE WITH YOU. (it was hard to write that without expletives)

Where do you think most of the people in the Bay Area came from in the first place? There are few natives here.

Mostly? Large cities, East coast. I don't think you can explain the population explosions in some of the towns I come across as people moving back home. We're getting second move effects at this point.

> ...FIT IN - DONT BRING CA ATTITUDE WITH YOU

All American citizens are free to bring whatever attitude they want wherever they want in their country. They're not required to "fit in". No citizen gets to tell any other citizen how, or where, to live. Welcome to the land of the free.

I have a right to freedom of speech. I can call you all sorts of racial slurs or whatever and the government can't prosecute me for it (well they can try but if I have a half competent lawyer it should be an uphill battle). That doesn't mean it's not in poor taste.

Ditto for moving somewhere and then immediately doing things to turn it into the place you came from. It's in very poor taste. If the place you're going is so bad and the first thing you want to do is change it then why did you move there?

I am looking forward to the Netflix series, the trip to the Nevada airfield and ensuing drama of who makes it onto the plane would be enough for one full season.

Here’s another way to read this: to theorize about these hypothetical scenarios and how to escape is a way of displacing the fear and sense of responsibility that goes with the rampant inequality they have succeeded by. A nano machine uprising carries a lot less responsibility than an economy exorbitantly tilted toward a lucky few.

Here "another way to read this: to theorize about these hypothetical scenarios and how to escape", then open business for rich people that will always feel fear from the poor people. Even if it is just poor people. Then you will make money!!!

To you it looks like a salve to guilt, but to them it's probably just cheap insurance. These plans are selfish and despicable, but they aren't crazy or stupid if they only take 1% of your wealth to maintain, because a massive breakdown in civil order in the next 10 years is quite plausible (though not all that likely from my perspective.)

The part I find particularly sad is that the elite referenced in the article are very clearly self-aware that the issue is a Bastille day or some revolution against the 1% (realistically 0.01%) which is feeding their paranoia.

Rather than work to better society and contribute, they instead focus on their bug out plans and lobbying politicians to cut taxes further when they could avoid this by focusing on the extreme wealth inequality that makes these paranoid fantasies (that's what they really are) a reality.

the upside is if they are right a lot of the right heads will roll.

And a lot of the wrong ones as well. Mobs are not good at justice as history tells us.

> Rather than work to better society and contribute

I actually do believe that they think that their work improves society and is such contribution. They just work on principles that many people in society do not share.

> to cut taxes further when they could avoid this by focusing on the extreme wealth inequality that makes these paranoid fantasies (that's what they really are) a reality.

I think that they actually believe that a very libertarian society would be better for most people, so your example with lobbying for less taxes is actually some contribution of them for a better society.

Concerning the "extreme wealth inequality" argument: I don't know the position of the 0,01%, but in my personal opinion, people who are born poor should better be angry about their parents that they were given birth in such a shitty circumstances instead of whining how unfair society is.

I laughed when I saw the guns in the bag and on the moped. SV rich people, do you know how to aim and fire those weapons? Can you reload them? Clear a malfunction? Clean them? Can you quarter and clean the animal that you kill? Can you preserve the meat? Well, you might be able to or you might not...but rural people can.

Guns, like seeds and so many other survival items, are only useful if you know how to use them. Having a bodyguard that knows how to use guns isn't a solution, either. A bodyguard with a gun--in apocalyptic times--is your new boss.

Rich people would be better off hoarding ammunition, not G550s.

I've said this here before, but ammunition is the ultimate doomsday currency. It doesn't go bad and can be stored (properly) for decades. It can be traded. It can get you food by killing animals or taking it from those who have it. Ammo can be reloaded but not with gunpowder, so you will need to have a big supply of it or be able to trade something of value for it.

> Ammo can be reloaded but not with gunpowder

Primers are a much bigger problem.

...a bunker on the northern tip of the South Island that would accommodate about 300 people. The price: $35,000 a head.

That’s a bargain compared with the most expensive bunker Lynch’s Rising S has shipped to New Zealand — $8 million.

Back on earth, $10.5M > $8M.

Can we fake an apocalypse to get them to go away?

PKD wrote The Penultimate Truth about that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Penultimate_Truth

Unfortunately the wall won't stop the super rich from returning from Burning Man in their corporate jets.

http://megagogo.co/

I upvoted this for the slick hypercomic intro before the article body, and now I’m going back to read the rest of the article. While reading it I might decide it’s a crappy article, but it still has a neat intro, and other people seeing it and writing better articles (possibly including myself in this, someday) might be inspired by it to make more neat intros. I have to remind myself all the time that doing something in isolation is not much different from doing nothing at all, and therefore, presentation is important.

Kiwi's weren't massively impressed by Peter Thiel buying his way in to NZ (and I doubt it would have happened if the current government were in power at the time).

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&...

Why do most articles from Bloomberg that make it to the front page of HN are about "the rich" somehow screwing over "the people"? Like, that's the only kind I see here.

Regardless, the article is BS clickbait. Just because two rich idiots bought bunkers in New Zealand doesn't mean everyone who has property there is preparing for some doomsday scenario.

>"He has a go bag stuffed with a gun, antibiotics, batteries, water, blankets, a tent and gas masks."

Rich people stockpile batteries! Surely they they are planning for a world-wide proletariat uprising or bio-warfare Armageddon.

It plays very well with "the people".

> two rich idiots

why are they idiots?

"the rich" have been awfully busy screwing everyone else recently. When the situation gets this bad "the people" gets uneasy. Even Bloomberg picked up on it.

Hmm other the gun that bag sounds like a pretty good idea! I’m on top of this

The super rich have always had a good plan. Sell a basket of social goods and grant all of our tax money to themselves. Disenfranchise enough voters and gerrymander the crap out of the country so they stay in power regardless. This has been the plan for 40 years.

If SHTF, will the infrastructure be available for 6000+ mile flights?

If you're gassed up and ready to go I guess you just take off right?

Assuming aviation fuel is available, and the runways are in working order, the USG hasn't shut down all flights, and you can actually get to your plane, then sure. But I don't think those are all a given if there is really a situation in America where people literally need to flee the country at a moments notice.

Do they really think the Kiwis don't have anti-aircraft guns? If USA goes to shit, none of us will be welcome there. Also as you hinted fairly few private planes are capable of that journey nonstop.

I believe Thiel already has NZ citizenship.

Are they going to shoot down a plane full of refugee billionaires?

If the shit really hit the fan, are they still billionaires? Or rather, does billionaire status still mean anything?

Exactly. Most horrific disasters wouldn't even inconvenience these people. It would have to be something epochal to make them run away. In an "After America" world, they would have nothing to offer New Zealand. Oh, and also it would probably be all their fault too...

Would gold still have value? Would bullets be the new gold?

Refugees are easily separated from gold. 'Twere ever thus.

Why's that?

We already have countries today "going to shit" in the ME, and yet I can assure you that the wealthy people in those countries can easily use their passports to get into any number of countries.

Nobody is shooting down any passenger airplanes coming out of that area.

And most people on these airplanes aren't even that wealthy. Upper middle class, maybe.

Suppose you have to be ready to fly on a moments notice. If they shut down all flights, I guess they could shoot you down, but would they?

I wonder how much a $1m/yr maintenance plan changes if the plane never flies at all.

True, none of that is a given, but a billionare has a better chance than many of us at making sure his escape plan is viable.

Driving your motorcycle 10 miles to a local airport to your airplane to take you to the long-range jet that's kept ready to launch sounds like a pretty decent plan.

Though you've got to have a lot of trust in the pilot and your partners, what happens when 2 of them get to the escape jet and convince the pilot that if they don't take off now they'll never be able to take off?

Another advantage the billionaire has is that he doesn't have to put all of his survival eggs in one basket, he can spent a million dollars+ a year on an escape plan and can still built a survival shelter with 2 years of food under his house.

People always talk about the absolute worse case scenario, as if it is the most likely.

Disaster preparedness is useful even if you aren't in a situation where literally billions are dieing. Even just being able to escape the aftermath of a hurricane, or earthquake is useful.

I'm not super rich, but I have a doomsday plan too: guns and lots of ammo. Bring it on, baby!

What does SHTF really look like? An invading army? Some sort of nuclear exchange? Everyone losing their jobs and hyperinflation over the course of weeks/months?

What are some examples from history? The Japanese invasion of Manchuria? The great depression and WWII? Venezuela today?

Is the real story the psychological purpose these preparations serve? Is this a sort of Revelation of Saint John for atheists? A story of doom where some are saved to provide a sense of control in an increasing incomprehensible world?

I think this counts:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. It took 200 years for the world population to recover to its previous level.

A modern pandemic would spread much faster due to modern transportation, and while modern medical science would help at first, medical services would quickly become overwhelmed. If critical infrastructure starts failing due to lack of workers (either they are sick or staying home to take care of family or avoid the illness), then things will get much worse very quickly.

Assuming you escape infection, having a secure isolated bunker with a couple years of food may actually help you survive.

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