Do the super-rich actually have realistic contingency plans for survival,

[Jackpine Radical]

or are they simply blinded by their own greed?

Do they think their money can save them from the coming collapse?

When we run out of oil, we run out of food. Our agriculture is totally dependent on fossil fuels as the base for fertilizer, insecticides, power for field equipment, heat for drying the grains and distilling alcohol from them. In addition, climate change, drought, and loss of the aquifers will also wreck our capacity for food production.

There will be little water for irrigation, and none for drinking.

No rich-fuck compound can be self-sustaining under these conditions, particularly when surrounded by starving hordes. If they think they can maintain their security with armed guards, they will need to figure out how to feed those guards.

The starving masses will not be content to work factory jobs to produce toys for the rich without pay and without food.

When there is nothing to buy, money will lose its value and its magical power over people.

This is an international problem. It will affect overpopulated and massively polluted India and China just as surely as it does us.

What will the super-wealthy do then?

[immoderate]

1. The poor will eat the rich.

--imm

[DinahMoeHum]

2. No. They'll eat the rich's children.

n/t

[roguevalley]

43. they will. they will be easy to find. they live in the big houses.

[Marrah_G]

3. We've destroyed so much of the countries rich soil through bad farming practices

At some point they will realize that you can't eat money and precious metals.

[arcane1]

4. I've wondered if their mad rush to get as much $$ as fast as possible is for that reason

Maybe when inflation goes to 10,000% they will still be somewhat "rich"?

[justabob]

5. unless they use that money to hoard tradable goods,

That pile of money will be useless to them, no matter how much bigger their's is than any one else's.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Money only has value by social consensus.

That stupid piece of metal or paper, or that little electromagnetically stored number only has value if someone else agrees to exchange something useful for it.

[justabob]

9. right

I don't think the rich folks really get that though, not the way poor folks do anyway. "Those people" think they can just throw money at problems or buy solutions with those little bits of green paper. When the end comes, they might be able to make it work for them for a minute, but not long.

[RKP5637]

7. Only a matter of time. Earth, is very unforgiving. Another extinct species. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

11. And maybe an extinct biosphere.

There are jus so many species that didn't deserve what we're about to do to them. Whales, dolphins, elephants--all of them with brains bigger than ours. Aaargh! Sometimes I hate being human.

[RKP5637]

13. Humans, we think we are a gift! IMO humans have been the worst species on earth. It's

pathetic, demonstrated over and over again we have smaller brains, and definitely less used.

[mylye2222]

8. Before the climate apocalyps will happen,

the riches will be looking the best way to exterminate the masses, for the resources can last a little bit more for them.

[kickysnana]

17. The Plan

1. Manditory vaccinations (and standardized treatments) with no liability.
2. State Health Depts were put under the CDC, DOD org, post 911. Public Health has no champions.
3. FEMA is now for government and businesses only.
4. Corporations make the laws.
5. Lying is sanctioned by the Supreme Court.
6. Money = Free Speech
7. Research and progress can be severely limited by Politics (Lyme Disease= 93% success in suppression, Aids victims eventually won).
8. Banning seed saving (2 states and several countries) and requiring GMO crops, to receive any government aid.
9. Importing food with no inspections, letting food companies here self-inspect, allowing untested additives.


Probably more but it is a slow but lethal strategy and if you complain at all you are a unpatriotic, shortsighted kook

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. They will worry about it after the next quarter, after the.....

next quarter, after the next quarter............................

[rock]

12. Once Climate Change is in full sway money won't stop it

It may already be too late.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. I'm pretty sure I could make a good case for the notion that

the rapid rise in wealth inequality is one of the major driving forces behind climate change.

[G_j]

24. Yes, I think you can

what we used to refer as, globalization.

[Mr Dixon]

15. LOL

I totally agree with the armed guards, it will take maybe a month and the guards will realize” Hey we are poor also why am I guarding the castle walls” let’s kill these rich fucks.

[Louisiana1976]

38. Agree wholeheartedly.

[meadowlark5]

16. I always wonder that too

They live on the same planet that is warming up, the water levels rising, catastrophic storms happening more and more, contaminated water supplies and disease that can spread around the globe in a matter of days.

Not sure if their lavish, private doomsday bunkers they created in old missile silos can sustain them until they and their generations of family after them die of natural causes Can't imagine it could.

I always wonder if there isn't some secret terraforming plans and research for Mars where the rich will escape to and it will be like the movie Elysium - they'll have the clean water, air, food and medical care while we all fight for scraps on the planet *they* destroyed and left.

[Octafish]

18. Get real! What Spooky Frank of the Congo Carlyle Carlucci is selling...

The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles

http://www.alternet.org/story/147058/the_really_creepy_people_behind_the_libertarian-inspired_billionaire_sea_castles

[rhett o rick]

19. Once the feeding frenzy starts, there is no stopping it. nm

[Taitertots]

20. The super wealthy have indoctrinated the masses with television

The vast majority of the people are just as indoctrinated by programs as they are by commercials.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Stopping the possibility of the scenario you describe requires everyone to work together

and the rich do not cooperate with each other, or with the population in general - they compete or exploit. Even if they individually see the chances of a collapse, they can't prevent it by their own actions alone, so by their normal behaviour, there's no reason to try. They may as well enjoy what they have, and hope a collapse doesn't happen.

[Orangepeel]

22. No super-rich person thinks that will happen in his or her lifetime

If they think about it in regard to their heirs, they probably think that scientists will figure out a way around it before it gets too bad.

That's probably what most people think (well, either that or that Jesus is coming any day now and therefore it doesn't matter).

[Quantess]

23. Yes the super rich have the means to ensure

a good standard of living for their offsprings' offspring's offspring. Regardless how the rest of us fare.

Face it, it's wishful thinking going on in your mind. "Oooh bad karma is gonna catch up to them, someday." But life goes on and the big punishment from the sky never happens.

Bob Marley said it best but I can't remember the song or the lyrics.

[F4lconF16]

32. From what I've listened to of his I feel like he has said the opposite. Maybe the wrong songs?

From a couple of his songs:

"Why boasteth thyself
Oh, evil men
Playing smart
And not being clever?
I said, you're working iniquity
To achieve vanity (if a-so a-so)
But the goodness of Jah, Jah
I-dureth for-I-ver

So if you are the big tree
We are the small axe
Ready to cut you down (well sharp)
To cut you down

These are the words
Of my master, keep on tellin' me
No weak heart
Shall prosper
And whosoever diggeth a pit
Shall fall in it, fall in it
And whosoever diggeth a pit
Shall fall in it (... fall in it)"

--Bob Marley, "Small Axe"

And this:

"You see men sailing on their ego trip,
Blast off on their spaceship,
Million miles from reality:
No care for you, no care for me.

...

So you think you've found the solution,
But it's just another illusion!
(So before you check out this tide),
Don't leave another cornerstone
Standing there behind, eh-eh-eh-eh!
We've got to face the day;
(Ooh) Ooh-wee, come what may:
We the street people talkin',
Yeah, we the people strugglin'.

Now they sitting on a time bomb; (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Now I know the time has come: (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
What goes on up is coming on down, (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Goes around and comes around. (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)"

--Bob Marley, "So Much Trouble in the World"

I don't know. Maybe he didn't believe in karma specifically, but it seems like he did believe that we would be able to overcome the PTB, and that the evil in this world would not prevail in the end. And at times, believed that they would be punished.

[rustydog]

25. Try to sneak ont otheir property and see if they are prepared.

there are personal protection professionals (Mercenaries) that are paid top-dollar to keep our wealthy safe.
Come the zombie apocalypse, the professionals will earn the millions they are paid....

[Jackpine Radical]

26. What will they buy with those millions?

[JEB]

27. What will the super-wealthy do then?

Turn golden brown on the roasting spit.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

28. I think they actually view it like a zombie movie.

And they assume they can just mow down the starving masses that come after them, and relocate to harder to get to places whose aquifers haven't yet been befouled.

Didn't the Bushes buy a lot of land down in Uruguay or Paraguay or somesuch, over one of the largest aquifers around?

[Jackpine Radical]

35. Paraguay, iirc.

[Louisiana1976]

39. Yeah--it was Paraguay.

[CrispyQ]

29. They think their money will always buy them an out.

It's worked so far, for the most part. They are not long range thinkers, as evidenced by their quarterly EPS focus.

That said, their wealth will cushion them from the worst of the fall, but they're going down with the rest of us, I am sure of it.

[KurtNYC]

30. "hire half the poor to kill the other half" as Martin Scorsese put it

[jberryhill]

33. correct

Slaves far outnumbered slave owners, and that worked for a very long time.

[KurtNYC]

44. my friend says they replaced chains with credit cards

and they even call one of them "MASTER Card."

[Jackpine Radical]

36. Originally attributed to Jay Gould.

[F4lconF16]

31. I think they can. Remember just how much money they have.

$200 million dollars will get you a heck of a compound. If you have multiple super-rich families getting together, you could easily have compounds worth billions of dollars, which is insane.

These compounds will be impenetrable. They will be heavily defended by people who will shoot to kill, because their livelihoods inside the compound depend on it. These guards will be "payed" well: they'll be inside the compound. Hide the compound away somewhere in northern Canada where the population is low and the climate cold, and you solve the problem of people over-running the place. It's unlikely that a bunch of starving people will be able to travel and find the compound.

Food and water are not as big of a problem as you would think. Set up a simple generator like a water wheel in a stream or river (remember we're in a remote location), and you've got reliable power. Power leads to indoor greenhouses, with plants being grown using sustainable methods. Natural fertilizers can be made. Remember that although the rich profit off unsustainable practices now, they will happily use them if it's for their own good. It's not that hard to provide food to a smallish number of people. Water can be purified through a number of means; with the remote location and all that money, it would not be hard to find a spot that is next to a significant renewable source of water, clean or not. Global warming will be a gradual process that can be worked through with resources.

Stockpile resources and parts to fix anything that might need fixing on the compound. Prepare renewable solutions for anything possible. Get doctors and healthcare professionals. Create a library holding information and anything else you would need.

Money may be worthless when people run out of food and water, but right now it's worth quite a bit. With preparation (and they have as many designers/planners/engineers as they want), they can figure something out.

Imagine the rw idiots that are preparing doomsday compounds for when Obama and the UN take over the world, or for when a zombie apocalypse happens. Now imagine them with as much money as they wanted, and with brains. And with hundreds of people helping plan it all out. Things will happen.

Like someone else said, I would love to think that in the end they'll get what's coming to them. I just can't imagine it would be this way.

[woodsprite]

34. Well, the Bushes will just go to their property in Paraguay (sitting on top of an aquifer)

The other people may or may not have plans beyond trying to hoard supplies. The only thing is, those supplies will run out.

[Hoyt]

37. They will hire the armed Bundy Ranch militia types and move to strong holds while

others die in the streets, and the armed poor will kill each other over what food and resources are left.

[Jenoch]

40. None of what you describe is going to happen for hundreds of years, if then, at the soonest.

[customerserviceguy]

41. All I know is

they had plans to survive nuclear war during the Cold War. Had an ex-girlfriend some forty years ago who told me about the shelters set up for the rich and powerful if nukes were ever imminent, her father worked for the CIA. Of course, later, they were declassified, and I figured she wasn't giving me a line.

I'm certain that if they think they could survive nuclear war, that economic collapse would be infinitely more manageable.

[KoKo]

42. They have many secret places......they will outlast the rest of us because they know

where to go...(mapping and Govt. Info about Global Warming the public isn't aware of) and money for stockpiling and living the good life. Even if they have to move around a bit...they will have homes in different choice locations and transportation on the private jets to get there. Remember...it's only for their lifetimes... And, there's plenty of toys for them available. It won't crash all at once....it will be rolling devastation over decades with still untouched places for the rich to enjoy their good times while the rest of us take our chances stuck where we are without their privilege to keep moving on. They will make sure that their children and grandchildren survive to procreate for the future.

It doesn't bother them at all....because they MADE IT...and to do that in these greedy times means they don't think about their ever not having "THE ADVANTAGE." This is a new breed of Wealthy and those who gained their vast wealth in these times have no concern about the rest of us fellow earthlings. Why should they?