Chris Pollack, president of Pollack+Partners, a design and construction advisor based in Purchase, New York, says that while security has always been a given in building homes for his ultra-high-net-worth clients, the spending for home defence has increased markedly over the last five years.
Perhaps the Third World levels of inequality that now characterize the US society, the persistence of the capitalist crisis, and the growing awareness and demands for action are making the 1% nervous.
This is how they respond.
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This rather reminds me of the recent trend towards tony suburbs crowd-sourcing paramilitary police-like contract forces to augment the civil police force that has been much ballyhooed in tech elite circles out west. Valleywag did a piece a while back on this campaign:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/security-patrol-for-lower-rockridge-northwest
So, if the 1% shell out for elaborate security systems, then the 10%, frothing in invidious comparison, crowdsource their own neighborhood police force because the broader tax base can't support adequate policing thanks to the continued concentration of wealth in the upper echelons of society, is that newest form of conspicuous consumption…? Using private wealth to replace a sub-par public good?
I think it was more celebrities being worried about potential assassins or crazy people encroaching on their properties. It's probably also a fun project for them -- I know I would be into getting my place decked out if I had the money and ability to do so.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they be trying to protect their property and money? There isn't really anyone who can just go and take it with their money being in a bank, and their property being defended by a police force.