[lampzzy]

“A group of centi-millionaires and a couple of billionaires were working through end-of-America scenarios and talking about what they’d do. Most said they’ll fire up their planes and take their families to Western ranches or homes in other countries.” One of the guests was skeptical, Dugger said. “He leaned forward and asked, ‘Are you taking your pilot’s family, too? And what about the maintenance guys? If revolutionaries are kicking in doors, how many of the people in your life will you have to take with you?’ The questioning continued. In the end, most agreed they couldn’t run.”

This is a great point and I think we can even add more to it: Will your pilot even wait for you? I guess he/she will just put his/her family on your plane and take off without you!

[0xfeba]

Well, it's lower hanging fruit but, if that anecdote is true, it sure sounds like most of those bourgeoisie don't really have a clue what "end-of-America" would really entail. That is, the infrastructure of people that normally do what you pay them to are all going to have different motives.

The people in this story are still counting on quite a bit of society to exist to ferry them to their fancy secure locations.

Which, to be sure, isn't unrealistic. Just interesting.

[stupidcar]

Would society really collapse overnight though? Other than a few scenarios, such as a sudden, all-out nuclear war, it seems like you'd have some build-up in advance. There'd be a period when things were getting progressively worse, but there was enough social inertia to keep things going.

You don't have to look far in history to see examples of this. 3rd Reich Germany kept functioning well past the point where it should seemingly have collapsed. Even as the Red Army were shelling Berlin, there were low-level people continuing their work when the sensible thing to do would surely have been to get their family and flee.

More recently, the Greek financial crisis put a major strain on institutions that were weak to begin with, but there was no rioting or major breakdown of order.

I think modern, Western societies are surprisingly resistant to a breakdown in order, simply because most people have never experienced anything other than order. As a result, acting in an anarchic, non-system way simply isn't something that would occur to them. Even in the face of an existential crisis, they would "keep calm and carry on", because they can't imagine doing anything else.

[Apocryphon]

Even in the modern day, it's pretty amazing how in the midst of the Syrian Civil War, life goes on in areas of cities that are actually experiencing fighting. Not only does regular life continue, but somehow the economy isn't completely gone.

[antisthenes]

> The people in this story are still counting on quite a bit of society to exist to ferry them to their fancy secure locations.

I think if there's going to be any place that a bit of society is left existing after apocalypse will be somewhere in the US, perhaps much closer to where those billionaires reside than they think (so there's no need to run to New Zealand).

I think the better investment would be to literally convert some of your 'paper' wealth to physical means of production of basic goods.

[Florin_Andrei]

> A group of centi-millionaires

centi- means 1/100. So those are people whose net work is about 10k.

The author probably meant hecto-millionaires. Or deci-billionaires.

[splintercell]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/centimillionaire

[EdHominem]

"You've found a word that is only available in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. To view the full definition of centimillionaire, activate your free trial today."

Heh, premium words. What good is a dictionary that only lists the common words? We know what those ones mean...

After piercing the paywall, I can see they've wrong. Centa, centi. Not the same.

And they charge for that?

[kilroy123]

I too have always thought about this. If I was a billionaire, I would also have a secret home setup, and I _would_ take the pilot and his family with me. I would also have a maintenance person and his family there.

I would become his apprentice and have him teach me everything he know. What else would you have to do while you're in hiding?

[ianferrel]

What makes you think that your mechanic and pilot would teach you anything, or even keep you around in that scenario? What do you have to offer that furthers their survival more than your share of the supplies you're not going to be eating?

If you really want this to work, you better learn to be a pilot and a mechanic now, or preferably have close family members that you like who have those skills.

[Someone1234]

So you're taking twenty or more people with you? Requiring a larger aircraft which requires more staff which results in more people. Rinse repeat.

Plus the risk of leaks resulting in additional people or those wishing to take your plane.

When you arrive who is feeding, housing, and this large number of people?