When ordinary people begin to accumulate survival gear and build bunkers in their backyards, it's a sign of the times. It's what ordinary people did throughout the Cold War, and it's what a lot of ordinary people have been doing since 9/11. But when rich people start building bunkers and stockpiling food and weapons, it's not just a sign of the times. It's a sign that something may be about to go down.

That's because the wealthy know and understand things that the rest of us often miss. If something bad were coming down the pike, they'd probably know it before we do. I'm not implying some grand conspiracy when I say that. I don't rule out that there are elites in the world who would conspire against us, but I doubt that every single millionaire in the world is in cahoots to screw us over and leave us behind when things get ugly. The wealthy of the world are not a monolith.

But what they are is smart. With the exception of trust fund babies, no one gets rich by being simpleminded. Even the folks who get rich by leeching off of corrupt governments need to be cunning and savvy. Most, however, are entrepreneurs, and to be a successful entrepreneur you have to be sharp, and you must have a strong sense of cultural, geopolitical, and economic trends. And if you have a strong sense of where those winds are blowing, then you probably know if our world is on the cusp of something terrible. So when the rich start ducking for cover, so should you.

Which is alarming when you hear stories like this one from Kansas City, where a man is turning an abandoned nuclear silo into luxury bunkers:

Larry Hall, project manager and owner of the Luxury Survival Condo Project, says he feels safer with the doors closed.

He says he's sold all 12 luxury condos in the former Atlas missile silo — which once housed a nuclear warhead — not far from Concordia, about two hours north of Wichita. He's working on a second silo.

A full-floor unit is 1,820 square feet and costs $3 million. A half-floor unit, at 900 square feet, costs $1.5 million.

Survival is a unifying cause. Hall said his owners come from a variety of political beliefs and include people in international business, architecture, law and medicine. He said the owners don't do interviews; efforts to reach them were unsuccessful.