LATE STAGE CAPITALISM
World's Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in New Zealand
A number of the planet's richest people, including billionaire co-founder of
Paypal Peter Thiel, are escaping to New Zealand to shelter in luxury bunkers
amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
by Alan Macleod
May 11th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
Instead of paying $24,000 for a haircut or spending $120,000 on a banana
duct taped to a wall, the world's super wealthy have found a new commodity
to purchase: pandemic bunkers in New Zealand. A number of the planet's
richest people, including billionaire co-founder of Paypal Peter Thiel,
have, amidst a growing global pandemic, escaped to the country and bought
luxury bunkers designed to withstand even nuclear explosions. LinkedIn CEO
Reid Hoffman describes the practice as "apocalypse insurance."
Isolated in the far "corner" of the Southern Hemisphere, more than 1,000
miles from Australia, the sparsely populated island country has long been a
destination of choice for those worried about the potential of a
catastrophic event, like a war, nuclear attack, or an uprising. The
country's temperate climate and remarkably stable society make it a
particularly safe choice in the event of such an occurrence.
The country has been among the least affected by the deadly coronavirus,
logging fewer than 1,500 cases and only 21 deaths. The government of Jacinta
Arden initiated extensive lockdown measures even before the pandemic had
truly hit her nation, and has been widely praised as one of the most capable
responses in the world. Like the U.S., New Zealand is in the process of
re-opening, but unlike the U.S., the virus has been almost eliminated. From
a high of 146 new cases on March 28, the total number of new infections for
the previous week was in single digits. Prime Minister Arden declared the
country was already "halfway down Mount Everest" last week. In contrast,
there have now been around 1.4 million confirmed positive American cases,
with over 80,000 deaths.
Although the government of New Zealand has passed laws meant to
disincentivize the foreign buying of domestic properties, the practice
continues. The new range of luxury private bunkers are dug deep underground
in the countryside and are covered with earth, the point being that even
neighbors will have no idea that they are there, let alone the general
public. Prices tend to start around $2 million and can reach up to $11
million for units that include luxury bathrooms, gun ranges, and swimming
pools. All feature large water tanks and air filtration systems intended to
block out even the most harmful of radioactive particles. Thiel himself
chose instead to buy a bizarre-looking, $4.7 million home replete with a
secure panic room. Other Silicon Valley executives are renting luxury
condominiums at a fraction of the price they pay in San Francisco, all while
working from home.
For those without the budget of the super wealthy, Vivos, an American
company, is developing a 5,000 person shelter network on a former military
base in South Dakota, with prices starting at $35,000 plus an additional
99-year land lease costing $1,000 per year. Their tagline is "affordable
bunkers to survive the apocalypse." Today, a handful of billionaires who
control more wealth than the bottom half of humanity combined could easily
fit inside even the smallest of the shelters on offer.
Global inequality continues to rise year on year, to the point where the top
one percent now hold significantly more wealth than the bottom 99 percent.
Mark Blyth, an economist at Brown University, has long told the world's
super rich that they simply cannot continue holding this level of wealth
indefinitely. Referencing the ultra-wealthy area of Long Island, he said,
"The Hamptons is not a defensible position. It's a low-lying beach.
Eventually people will come for you."
It appears that the billionaire class, rather than giving away some of its
wealth, is attempting to find a technological fix to this problem.
"Obviously the coronavirus is making people realize how vulnerable we all
are, but what people are really concerned about is the aftermath," said
Vivos' founder, "They don't want to have to defend their homes when the
gangs of looters or marauders show up."
As of Monday, the current worldwide total of confirmed COVID-19 infections
stands at 4.22 million, of which 284,834 have died.
