David Mamet Pokes Holes in Billionaires' Escape Plans

Playwright David Mamet has a question or two for the billionaires plotting to escape to compounds in New Zealand or some such if society collapses. They'll need to hire a pilot to fly them to safety, for example, but wouldn't the pilot want to bring his family, too? Ditto for their armed guards and servants, and the plane can only hold so many. Think, too, about ground crew guiding the plane. "If staying behind meant death, what would they risk by demanding their inclusion?" he wonders in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. "What's the rich guy going to do, stop their paycheck? His plane offers the sole escape."

Those guards would surely have to fend off "latecomer hordes" rushing the plane. Which raises a bigger problem for the billionaires. If the guards "are the only ones capable of keeping order, and if money is now useless, they have no need of their employer," writes Mamet. "On the plane he would be dead weight—and in the New Zealand bunker, just a useless mouth to feed." Out he goes. The billionaires are preparing for a "World After Society" without money, which means without all their power, too. (Read the full op-ed, which segues into a parting shot at President Biden.)