Monday, January 26, 2015

Super rich buying boltholes to hide from chaos caused by their policies

"Ultra-wealthy financiers are buying land, homes and airstrips in countries such as New Zealand to escape to in case the poor rise up against wealth inequality. Fears of political unrest across the United States as in the Ferguson riots and Occupy protests have caused the billionaires to plan their escape to secret hideaways.Robert Johnson, president of the Institute of New Economic Thinking, told people at the World Economic Forum in Davos that many hedge fund managers were already planning their escapes."
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This is  not some lefty radical. This is a highly regarded analyst speaking to the World Economic Forum. 

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/super-rich-hedge-fund-managers-buying-boltholes-private-airstrips-case-revolution-1485263

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Public space? I got your public space right here.

http://boingboing.net/2015/01/25/san-francisco-ponders-letting.html

"Like many cities, SF asks fancy property developers to create "public spaces" in their buildings to make up for parks and other public sites they displace, and these are usually a joke, hidden away far in the buildings' depths and deliberately hidden from the public. Now, a proposed amendment to the municipal code will allow those developers to do away with the pretense of public access altogether, by paying a nominal fee in lieu of creating these absurd "parks" within or atop their buildings."
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Well, after all, why shouldn't our overlords be able to buy their way out of any and all legal obligations?  Thanks to Mystery Reader for this link.