I wonder how the ultra rich thinks they'll protect themselves if there's a collapse

[MrScorpio]

They've been bleeding the working class since Reagan and now they hold 90% of the country's wealth

Now that most of the people are being hosed and are failing to hold their end of the scheme, how is the investor class going to avoid suffering along with the rest of us?

[donco6]

1. They lived quite well during the last Depression.

Think The Great Gatsby.

[WCGreen]

27. Gatsby was set during the 1920's....

Prohabition, yes, Depression, no...

[Oregone]

2. Tall walls...

Are you kidding me? They'll be fine. They thank you for your concern.

[MrScorpio]

5. Well I guess they'll be fat and juicy for the eating, right?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. The same way they survived the depression, unless the little people

storm their estates. People have essentially gone into asset protection, not asset growth.

Yes I know folks who have a little money.

Now the top 5%, you are talking of folks who DO NOT live in the economy, but even them are cutting down, which has consequences in the broader economy

[prolesunited]

4. Gated communities and private security guards

And they'll buy up everything we need to sell for pennies on the dollar.

Why do you think they're going to suffer?

[Idealism]

6. They must be scared shitless

When people realize they've been oppressed, they tend to rise up and remedy the situation as soon as possible. Thats why the super rich shouldn't bitch because we have progressive taxation. They benefited most from capitalism, more so than they could in a western european country, so they should pay more for that freedom.

[realisticphish]

7. swiss bank accounts, euros, yen, small Caribbean islands

the usual

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

8. The rich always land on their feet.

[KoKo]

19. Yeah.....their Hedge Funds are still taking money out of my 401-K...

Those Mutual Funds (safe, value, diversified) that I was forced into are bleeding more and more every day. I'm told by CNBC it's the Hedge Funds "delevering" and it will go on until the end of the year or longer.

[screembloodymurder]

9. Well there's suffering, and then there's suffering.

People with wealth won't protect themselves. They'll pay others to do it.

[Canuckistanian]

10. These guys have enough $$ for FIVE lifetimes

They surpassed the "jet set" lifestyle long ago.

The only worries they have is their grandchildren.

[alittlelark]

11. We are not among the uber-rich, but we are well off

We have been utilizing Everbank to move our dollars into other currency CD's.

I saw this coming years ago.

[brooklynite]

14. I moved my IRA funds to Euros six months ago...

[KoKo]

20. How's that going for you with our Dollar Up these days?

:shrug:

[alittlelark]

26. The inflation of the dollar is an illusion.

Investment banks are creating the illusion.


Wait until Jan 20th or so.... our anemic $ will fall into the crapper....
I'll betcha....

[Andy823]

12. I wouldn't worry about the rich

They have it all put away in offshore bank accounts. They knew this was coming, and they are taking advantage of it. When prices get so low, they will jump back in and buy everything up. Then we will have a small group of people who will own the banks, the energy sectors, the media, food supplies, and everything else that we need to survive! This will not only be what happens in the U.S., but around the world. The rich control everything, and the rest of us get the scraps they throw down to us, if we are lucky!

What we need to see is Obama taking these big corporations on, and getting congress to start doing something to even the playing fields. If congress don't start doing their job and making sure the people of this country are their main priority, we are in trouble.

[MrScorpio]

13. I say bring back 70% marginal taxation rates

Bury Reagan once and for all

[TXDemGal]

15. They buy up everything on the cheap

Just like they've been doing during economic crises since...well, forever.

[Double T]

16. Gated and guarded communities with safe rooms stocked with provisions........

to last through the 2nd American Revolution.

[KoKo]

17. Tom Friedman's Rich Wife's Shopping Center Reits have taken a big dive

She and Tom are now only worth 25 mil.. :cry: for poor Tom. He's gotta write more books. That 11,000 sq.ft Mansion must be paid for though. Maybe they can take in boarders...

[Donnachaidh]

21. so that's why he's jumped on the green bandwagon, eh?

That's going to be the next rip-off for the rich. Buying carbon *excuse* cards, so they can continue polluting while they claim to be going green.

[baldguy]

18. Blackwater won't stay in Iraq for ever.

[Donnachaidh]

22. blackwater has plenty of personnel here NOW.

Don't kid yourself -- they've got the hired guns all over the country.

[Hydra]

23. The rich don't care if they lose a bit

Because their aim is to starve us out.

Nary a peep from the people until the bank bailout, and still no boots on the ground.

I suspect we have our answer- it will not be with a bang, but with a whimper.

[DBoon]

24. they will hire a private militia

to protect their property

and for a small "fee" will make sure you are protected as well


It's called the new feudalism

[Warpy]

25. They can't

and the smarter ones are dimly beginning to realize this.

When everything breaks down to the point of Depression, all the money they have on paper tends to disappear as business after business goes under. What they have left in terms of overpriced art and antiques becomes worth relatively less as they, too, have to scramble for a diminished supply of goods and services.

It almost seems like it takes periodic Depressions to remind the parasite class that they need the rest of us and if we become too sick to feed off, then they're going to die off, too.

That's when we get reform until the next generation of suckers in both classes comes along and starts the process again.

[Odin2005]

40. FDR often joked that he was saving the rich from themselves.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

28. I've been checking new listings daily

on a local real estate site. There is a glut of multi-million dollar homes on the market,
with new ones appearing daily. I'm talking 26,000,000 estates. I live in an area that is
the headquarters for Microsoft, Costco and many Boeing execs. This is going to get very
ugly, very soon.

[Missy Vixen]

31. Absolutely

>This is going to get very ugly, very soon.<

This is one of the most affluent areas of the country, and every day, we hear the shoe dropping. Again.

We saw this starting to happen last summer during the $4.50 per gallon gas. It's getting worse.

Julie

[leftofthedial]

29. a. we're too gutless to take back our wealth from them by force

b. they own security
c. if necessary, they'll ride it out out of the country

[FirstLight]

30. The way we "do" wealth is shifting...

If we are talking global economy failure, added to climate change and an energy infrastructure that is beyond antiquated and not sustainable...population overload and food shortages across the globe....

then there wil be no rich left - maybe in 5 years?

the shakedown is about to get beyoind our conceptualization. Every model of Global change is moving far more rapidly than expected, and the economic meltdown wasn;t supposed to happen this way, not yet, not this bad...

We have had it really good for about 150 years, the Industrial Revolution was a boon to humanity
Now we have to see if we can make the changes fast enough and smart enough to survive a Green Revolution on a global scale

Rich vs poor wil be a moot point, but we may have a few class wars before that comes to pass...and water wars, food wars, etc...

[readmoreoften]

32. Private police. Not that they haven't been doing just fine relying on the public police force...

[MilesColtrane]

33. All those young, brave, Blackwater™ patriots who'll be returning from Iraq will....

...be rewarded with jobs.

:puke:

[JI7]

34. one thing i noticed is high end places like Saks , Burberry , sales are down

so it means those higher end investment people are not doing so well. a lot of people were wiped out with the stock market fall.

of course it never made sense that the few people at the top could continue living so much better when the large majority of people were not doing well.

[Hekate]

35. The usual: Castles, moats, private armies. No problem for the likes of them.

About the only thing that can get inside those, if history is any indication, is the bubonic plague.

Even as the economy and the ecology collapse, I think there's a certain type that thinks money will still get them anything they need or want. All the rest of us are just serfs and peons to them.

Hekate

[Luna_C_06]

37. Well,

we do have MRSA now!

[asteroid2003QQ47]

36. Budding Black Marketeers in your community are poised to serve...

the rich and "ultra rich" keeping them well fed and protected just as they did when I was a lad. They can outbid the ration stamps, money talks and bullshit walks!

[DireStrike]

38. 1) Private security force = jobs, 2) Big plane to somewhere.

Those are the only two options. Unfortunately they're pretty good.

Wealth and power buy you as much security as can be had.

[Greyhound]

39. There is a great difference between the rich and the ruling, or parasite, class.

The merely rich believe themselves to be safe, thinking that they will be protected by their walls, estates, guards, and parasite "friends", they will be quite shocked when they find their role is to satiate the mobs.

The parasites have their havens and will simply not be here while the "troubled times" are happening. This has all happened before and there is nothing new under the sun.