Recent
developments show that the plutocracy of 1% that holds 50% of global
wealth is planning to "escape" from urban centers, by
building "castles" in remote and inaccessible shelters, or,
in armored undergrounds.
According to
a recent report by New World Wealth, many millionaires have started
to leave the cities. The biggest exodus of millionaires is observed
in Paris (7,000), followed by Rome (5000), Chicago (3000) and Athens
(2000).
According to
the report, 22,000 millionaires were living in Athens and 55,000
across Greece in 2015, of which 9% and 5%, respectively, left the
country during the year. The New World Wealth believes that the
exodus of millionaires will be accelerated over the next 10 years,
mainly from France but also from Belgium, Germany, Sweden, the UK,
Italy, Spain and Greece.
The main
reasons for the exodus of the wealthy from these cities are the
rising religious tensions, acts of terrorism and the economic crisis
in Europe, as well as the riots in many American cities after the
killings of African Americans by the police. A former hedge fund
manager, Robert Johnson, explained last year in Davos what worries
the wealthy: many of them observe a growing social instability and
they fear that there will be unrest and uprisings like those in the
US.
The UK and
the US are the most popular destinations for millionaires who fled
from Paris, Rome and Athens. Both countries offer tax and other
benefits to the incoming plutocracy, but their cities remain
vulnerable to social unrest (for example in London 2011, in Oakland
2010, Anaheim 2012, Ferguson 2014, and Baltimore, 2015).
Thus, for
several wealthy, the greater the distance from possible riot centers,
the more the feeling of security is provided. For this reason, some
have bought farms with runways in remote places like New Zealand.
For those
who prefer to stay in the cities or near the source of their wealth,
an alternative is a private shelter to be built by companies
specialized in this sector. Much more popular are the Safe Rooms.
These are specially fortified and shielded rooms that can be used in
case of riots, assault and even burglary of the residence.
These
shelters resemble those of the "godfathers" of the Italian
Mafia: the adapted undergrounds into which they were hiding from the
authorities. The Mafia leaders were choosing self-imprisonment in
such shelters, rather than face justice and be imprisoned in ordinary
prisons.
The
millionaires who "escape" into shelters, make a similar
choice. To avoid potential explosions of rage from the society, and
also to avoid to confront the consequences of inequality from which
they become wealthy, they prefer self-imprisonment in luxurious and
secluded shelters. The question is whether these shelters can provide
something more than a temporary asylum to their owners. For, as John
Donne says in his poem, "No man is an island entire of itself".
Key
parts from the article “The millionaires are leaving the cities
(and Athens)” by Michalis Yianneskis, translated from the original
source:
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Everything shows that the elites are
breaking
fast the social contract, building a protective
wall around them: “It's not accidental that the arms
industries demonstrate new weapons designed to be used inside
urban areas for suppression of potential riots. There will be no
'outside enemy' in the future. The threat for the dominant system
will come from the interior, the big urban centers. Soldier-robots
will protect worker-robots and resources.”
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They can run, but they can't hide forever!
ReplyDeletea bunker aint safe if you know how to find the air intakes is lol
ReplyDelete