If you genuinely wanted this kind of vibe and had unlimited money, just move to a small but tight knit town with a dense downtown core, put up some walls, and then buy up all the shops and keep the people who work there employed but triple their salaries, and employ everybody else in the town with similarly paid jobs in random new stores for shit you want to exist there. Congrats, you're now effectively a warlord with a private army and you have a pleasant town to live in, not some weird mcmansion fort with a vegetable garden that can maybe support a toddler.

[–] Red_Shift@hexbear.net 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This would require them being not completely paranoid about the poors stealing all their nice things and feeling like they're being ripped off by paying the poors more than they're worth. Being super rich poisons your mind and so they'll be suckered in by meritocracy and protestant work ethic type stuff that makes them think people need to work non stop to deserve a decent life. So this type of idea, while resulting in a better outcome for them, would seem unappealing because they'd see it as just paying for everyone else to jerk around.

Plus their rich friends who they compare themselves to would make fun of them for making such bad business decisions

[–] thethirdgracchi@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

It's bizarre that you're right, because this is functionally how rich people always worked prior to capitalist brainworms. Rome, China, etc; hell fucking Al Capone worked this way! Warlords always made sure their guys and their families were paid, treated incredibly well, and made to feel invested in whatever enterprise and world they were building. You just need to follow that model and you'll get Caesar's Seventh Legion with all these people who would die for you because they know you're gonna keep everybody they love on the payroll and eating good.

[–] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

You could basically wall in a small college town and then bankroll it.