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It turns out that the rich are not so different from you and me, for we’re all filled with anxiety. You and I are scared by what they’re doing to our middle-class future, and they’re scared of what we might do to them for what they’re doing to us.
The really, really richie-rich, for example, are going to the dogs. Literally. But they’re not getting pooches at the adopt-a-pet shelter, instead shopping in the high-end guard dog market. The elite canine crowd is paying up to $400,000 for an “executive protection dog.”
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As I said, these are nervous people. The New York Times reports that one fellow who is wallowing in wealth laid out $230,000 for his exec-protect dog, and he flies her by private jet between his Arizona and Minnesota mansions. He now has six of these security hounds, taking a couple of them with him in his car every time he goes out.
Then there are some swells who fear that even a pack of attack dogs won’t be enough if there’s a mass uprising of knocked-down commoners, so they’re seeking shelter to ride out any storm. Paying as much as $20 million each, they’re buying luxury doomsday bunkers. One of these retreats for elites, now being built under Nebraska grasslands, is practically big enough to have its own zip code. This project by Vivos Inc. offers four levels of individual suites, medical and dental clinics, a fully-stocked wine cellar, pool hall, its own little jail, and – just in case the worst comes – a prayer room. And, yes, there are kennels if you feel the need to bring your executive protection dogs with you.
All of this fear would dissipate if these rich ones would simply join the rest of us to restore shared prosperity to our economy. As John Kennedy put it, “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
“For the Executive With Everything, a $230,000 Dog to Protect It.” www.nytimes.com, June 11, 2011.
“Sales of luxe doomsday bunkers up 1,000%,” www.cnn.com, March 26, 2011.