As IF Times

link Japan earthquake and tsunami: Sales of doomsday nuclear bunkers soars 1000% | Mail Online.

Like a scenario from an Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel, entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the recent disaster in Japan to capitalize on the fears of a gullible public.  Or at least a very small slice of the gullible public, because these disaster shelters are designed to house only 950  people apiece.

Putting aside the mentality of people who would be tempted to partake in this scheme, consider that  the real filter will be that of money.  At the moment, for the tantalizingly cheap price of $25,000, one is offered a chance at safety should a nuclear disaster strike.  That’s cheap!  You can’t buy a parking spot for that in New York City. 

However, I’ll bet on human nature that as an imminent disaster looks more likely, the owners of this scheme will renege on the deposits and instead, re-sell the spaces to the highest bidders.  After all, what are aggrieved people going  to do? Sue?  “We’ve assigned you a court date in one year”.   Therefore, this logically leads us to the worst part of this scheme.  The people who will be safely ensconced in these tombs of doom will be people with plenty of financial resources. 

Only lots and lots of money will get you in.  That means if you’re lucky enough to get a spot, your co-habitants for a year or so will be sports stars, Hollywood celebrities, business moguls, oil sheiks,  crime bosses and people who own real estate in Vancouver.   Given that, some would rather die a horrible death by radiation, but there will always be detractors.  The configuration of the bunkers is an obvious  issue.   It’s unclear how they will be able to build a space large enough to contain the egos given that all of these constituents are used to having their own expanses of privacy.  At 137,000 sq ft per bunker, it’s barely the size of Donald Trump’s guest bathroom.  You’d have to believe that there would be room made for chefs, cleaning people, publicists and yoga instructors, all key people in this groups’ entourage.   A year without yoga?  Please. 

It’s unclear how distribution of resources and maintenance of civil decorum will occur in such a close space.  Since despised  lawyers likely have been forced to populate their own bunkers, the administration of social decorum will at best be decided by the tried and true, rock, paper scissors method, or at worst, the Lord of the Flies method.  You can imagine what kind of chaos will erupt when someone consumes all of the Cabernet Franc in the first month.   One very serious consideration will be the food supply.  While it can be possible to store lots of freeze dried food and water, eventually, you run low.  It may be a good idea to have maximum weight limits for prospective buyers because you don’t want them unduly straining resources.  So, fat people are out. 

If you really subscribe to this scenario though, the best thing to do now is to get into the racket of selling these things as soon as possible.  At the very least, you may be able to save up enough to purchase a spot for yourself.   The possibility of spending a year with Oprah and the Donald?  Priceless.

link Wisconsin unions threaten to boycott businesses that dont display their signs | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner.

Observing the antics of the public sector unions in Wisconsin has gone from amusing to sublime.  A little over a month ago, the new incoming governor of that state, Scott Walker,  embarked on a necessary program to rescue that state’s dire financial condition.  The state was over 3 billion dollars short of funds and drastic action was needed to stem the red ink.  At the behest of the voting public, who put Walker in office specifically to address  the fiscal malaise, he proposed cutting back the power and influence of public sector unions in the wage bargaining process.

What resulted was the comical abdication of duty of  the Democratic members of their legislature who en masse fled the state to avoid voting on the contentious bill as if they were 4 year olds avoiding cough medicine.  They became a group mug shot on milk cartons in the Midwest.  Shame and ridicule did not bring them back to do their jobs, but the threat of legally compelling them to return,  did.  Consequently, they were forced to participate in the voting process and predictably, they lost.  The curtailing of public union powers was enacted, at least by vote.

The rescission of public union rights drew condemnation from the usual and expected entitlement groupies; organized labor, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the delusional Michael Moore and of course, the President himself.  From the bleating and wailing eminating from these champions of the people, you would think Walker was trying to impose modern slavery upon oppressed and unwashed factory workers.  In fact, one of the key proposals by Walker was that public sector unions be compelled to contribute as much to their pension funds as anyone else in the private sector.   Was there no reasoning with this man?   What next, make teachers work 6 hour days?

Unhappy with the legally enacted legislation that neutered the public unions’ longtime extravagances, the most recent union tactic is the default reversion to thuggery.  Ah back to union roots.   As the article describes, non supporters of the union position will be ostracized as far as business patronage.  Apart from the obviously  juvenile tantrum this type of extortion represents, the tactic makes no sense in real life.  The biggest effect will be of creating very obvious divisions within their own community.  It’s pretty hard to depict this in any other way than as selfish and puerile pouting.

It’ll be amusing to see how long this campaign lasts.   It’ll be fun to have them try to buy milk and cheese that is sourced only from non-union cows.  This  is no small issue if you’ve ever seen a resident of Wisconsin.  Will they make their own bread instead of frequenting non union bakeries?  Will all restaurants go out of business because of lack of union patronage?  Will they give up their likely non union gardeners?  Obviously shopping at Wal Mart is out because that’s a non union operation.  In a very short time, it’ll be obvious that what they propose is the equivalent of holding their breath until they get their way.  I think the public will wait them out.  It’ll become obvious that the people they seek to distance themselves from are the ones that pay their wages through taxes.  At the very least, the unions should change their description from serving the public, to doing the public.