[gibbitz]

Same goes for the fuel and control systems (thinking air traffic control here) to power their escapes. Additionally if we're talking a government collapse, fiat money will only have value as heating fuel. Even high value assets like gold won't have immediate value due to their general uselessness. Only things like salt, liquor, grain and fuel will be valuable. This is why they are scared. In many cases these are not practically skilled people, so in a collapsing society their survival chances are low.