I caught a few minutes of an NPR interview with some guy marketing a 5000 person shelter, deep in a limestone mountain. Its a former quarry which was later used by the US army to hold stuff. Apparently--and this is important, its as big as "the Empire State Building" lying on its side, and only one floor deep. This is the "largest bomb shelter" in the world, the salesman thinks, except "top secret ones" the government has. Thanks to its size--did he mention it can hold 5000 people?--a family of four can shelter there for a mere 20,000 dollars plus a small fee for food. They promise to shelter there 5000 pre-purchased owners for "up to a year" and thus propose to outlast, well...whatever comes.
The interviewer was one of those sweet liberal types who seems to think that just shooting the shit with these guys is enough to clue the listeners in to how crazy they are. I turned off the interview when I saw that she wasn't going to ask the kinds of questions a sane person would want asked.
1) How long is the 20,000 dollar buy in good for?
2) Who guarantees it in the event of a government collapse--after all if you fail to come through with the shelter and food how can one of your clients sue you?
3) You are advertising around the world--how do you advise your clients to get to your shelter in the event of the kind of disaster for which you are preparing?
4) If a client can't get to your shelter before you lock down, have you reserved the right to "give their space" away to a new paying client?
5) What stops you from taking the client's money now and then simply reselling their space later?
6) Are you preferentially including or excluding certain kinds of clients by age, health, sex, or race?
7) How do you propose to guard the exterior of the shelter with your 5000 clients--not all of whom apparently will be resistance and warfare ready?
8) Will you be able to maintain the electrical and ventilation and if so, how?
Etc..etc..etc...http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/09/26/tax-frenzies-and-how-to-hose-them-down/
8 comments:
Details, details, details...
These are IDEA people!
Leave the details to others!
Others, who might not have an extra $20,000 lying around, aimai, but still, they'll show-up, won't they?
Why let a great money-making scheme fall, due to a few nagging, insignificant details?!?!?!?!
9) Can I buy plasmids on credit?
http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/BioShock
Amateurs. I've been sitting on a sack of seeds since Raygun.
You're right, Vic, they will come. Heavily armed.
No fear.
Why are they accepting us paper money? Shouldn't they want bitcoins or platinum or nubile young females as payment?
Not nubile, fat ugly and stupid. Worthless.
No fear.
I've been down into the troglodyte caves in Turkey. Fascinating. But not much of a survival strategy long term. You can't run the thing except on pretty much socialist principles or the entire thing will degenerate into a dictatorship of the guns and the leadership pretty fast. (In the case of the troglodytes in Cappadoccia they didn't stay down there very long, just a month or so at a time I believe: entire families with their livestock.
I'm for things like this. It's simply a stupidity tax, and while it's unlikely to get extracted from the super rich, who in case of major je-ne-sais-quoi will use their money to simply fly to someplace else, it does tax the far right wing supporters of things like closing down the government and making sure everyone can buy an automatic weapon at the corner big box store.
Very crankily yours,
The New York Crank
Will you be able to maintain the electrical and ventilation and if so, how?
Good question, since wingnuts are morally opposed to any sustainable source of power for these things.
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