this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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A recent skirmish over the 1 percent's feces is currently being worked out by the Florida state legislature.

One of the places that Jeff Bezos lives is a man-made island off the coast of Florida called Indian Creek Village. The island is predominantly populated by other billionaires and is colloquially known as the “Billionaire Bunker.” In fact, if you’re not a billionaire, it’s quite difficult to get in. The bridge from the mainland to the island is closed to the public and protected by armed guards and a sophisticated security system.

However, if the island is almost entirely cut off from the rest of humanity, the island’s inhabitants still seem intent on sharing one thing with members of the outside world: their piss and shit.

Indian Creek doesn’t have the underground infrastructure to deal with its own poop, so the solution it came up with was to funnel it through Surfside into a wider regional sewage system. Unfortunately, Surfside didn’t want the poop unless Indian Creek was willing to contribute $10 million to the community for future sewer system improvements. Indian Creek has referred to this request as “extortion.”

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[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 10 points 20 hours ago

Every last one of their communities is nothing but a leech and extortion of others. Every single one. Why not use a fraction of his immense wealth to improve the infrastructure?

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

Oooh, those poor billionaires, being expected to pay for the infrastructure they need for their private island. Outrageous! It's the peons who are supposed to pay!

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

remember the story of the liberterians that dint want to pay taxes, and they couldnt afford the public services that wouldve been need to use in order to take out trash, waste managment, etc. they abandoned shortly,. and another one where they were driven out by bears, because they decided to be "self sufficients.

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 3 points 20 hours ago

The bears in the New Hampshire debacle is a thing of legend.

[–] ddash@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 1 day ago

An island full of billionaires you say? So a well placed missile could...

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Indian Creek has referred to this request as “extortion.”

Strange. I could swear it was called a "free market".

No but see it's only called that when i do it.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

1 island

1 bridge

I'm not condoning violence, I'm condoning demolition.

[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They may have helicopters and boats.

[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Cardboard drones with rocks in them.

[–] Widdershins@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Let them eat shit" - Arie Mantoinette

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 4 points 18 hours ago

Let them eat THEIR OWN shit.

[–] rusticus@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago

The Sovereign Individual. Read it. It’s the playbook for these assholes.

All these guys deserve to be dragged these guys through the streets until they’re ketchup.

Jeff bezos did not invent nor does he own the idea of buying things on the internet.

Zuckerberg did not invent t nor does he own the idea of people communicating on the internet.

Elon musk is subhuman trash.

Is it American gothic time yet?

Keep them pitchforks pointy!

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 8 points 1 day ago

Hook it up backwards so all the shit goes their way.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just out of curiosity, how hard are those pipes to sabotage?

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

That'll just pollute the ocean.

[–] BigBenis@lemmy.world 136 points 2 days ago (4 children)

For reference, $10M is 1% of $1B. Jeff Bezos is worth $225B, so that would be 1/225 of 1% for him to foot the bill. Considering there are many other multi-billionaires living on that island, that brings our fraction of a single percent of their collective wealth closer and closer to effectively zero.

The greed of billionaires is unfathomable.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

1/225 of 1% for him to foot the bill.

You don't become a billionaire by picking up your own tab.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

And that’s just him footing the bill. I’m assuming other billionaires on the island would help cover the cost. So essentially it would cost him couch change to just make it go away. Yep sounds about right.

[–] Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The greed of billionaires is unfathomable.

And the insane short-sightedness that is inevitably leading us all to climate collapse. Even when they think they're being smart, they're just idiots.

The island is predominantly populated by other billionaires and is colloquially known as the “Billionaire Bunker.”

Good luck surviving in your bunkers when you don't even manage your own waste. Whether society collapses or the people finally turn on you, the mainland sewage system isn't going to keep working for long. It's yet another example that they don't actually know what the hell they're doing.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 days ago (3 children)

They all think by reading Atlas Shrugged they are equipped to live on their own little paradise island from the poors.

I believed in that book too. For like a year in my 20s, then I actually learned how the world works. These dumb asses never did. They learned how to take advantage of people, thats it.

[–] stopdropandprole@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

so many of the world's problems boil down to a handful of tech bros who made that book their entire personality.

congratulations on escaping the Rand death cult

Its pretty crazy when you think about it

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Remember back in 2008, curiously right after Obama was elected and the conservatives were really feeling their neo-confederate roots, all the Republicans in my neighborhood started passing "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" amongst themselves. For some reason, nobody ever bothers to read "Anthem" or get to the back half of "I, Robot" in these groups.

They learned how to take advantage of people, thats it.

It's not a small skill. For every filthy rich oligarch, living off the accrued labor of thousands of proles, there are a hundred hustlers and influencers and drop shippers and mid-level MLMers who sling just enough slop around to make ends meet. For every drop shipper, there are a hundred factory workers churning out consumerist crap at pennies on the retail dollar, so the drop shippers have something hock.

Being at the top of an empire of greed and exploitation is a full time job. It's not all yacht cruises and prostitute orgies. You spend a bunch of time selling $10k glasses of water in the sweat tents of Wall Street and Silicon Valley. You spend a lot of time pissing out all that Ketamine while pretending to be the best Fortnite player on Earth.

[–] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

I tried reading that book. Couldn't get past the first chapter.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

It's on the East Coast of Florida. It won't survive much.

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Sounds like the perfect location for a couple dozen daisy cutters.

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 224 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Classic oligarch behaviour = billionaires bitching about spending $10M to take care of their own feces.

[–] Vent@lemm.ee 167 points 2 days ago (2 children)

In actual human terms:

"Yes, I'll handle this problem for you, but I'll need $0.000001 to cover the cost of the shared infrastructure."

"Fuck off"

lobbies government to force you to do it for free

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 83 points 2 days ago

This really captures the reality of the situation, and is exactly what pisses me off most about these uber-wealthy: they are cheapskates to their very core and will not give up a penny without being a fucking Karen first

[–] sfxrlz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And it’s not like it’s really free. lobbying costs money as well

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

The way they see it is a gamble: 10 million dollars for a fair deal or pay out 10 million dollars to some crooked lawyers for bribes and the pinkertons to get some dirt and leverage on neighboring community and walk away with extra power and a dumping ground for your piss and shit.

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[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (15 children)

Didn't know we had so many in one place. Why the fuck can't we get somebody to take it out.

Fucking mass shooters and terrorists bombing and they always target schools and, churches, etc. Why not for once target a place like that?

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[–] P1nkman@lemmy.world 101 points 2 days ago (3 children)

So multiple billionaires refused to hand out $10m.

Let's say there's two billionaires of them living there, they both have $1b, and they both pay $5m each, which would equal to 0.5% of their wealth.

It would be like someone with $10k giving away $5.

I'm hungry, when do we eat?

[–] ReiRose@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

I make 3k/mo and spend $70/mo on trash/water/sewage services.

I'm hungry too

[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Not "giving away". Spending, for services. Which just makes it even more audacious.

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[–] bookmeat@lemmynsfw.com 71 points 2 days ago

The truth about billionaires is they're actually poor. Most of their wealth is tied up in loans or illiquid assets. They can't afford to spend the money unless they can take out another loan against their other loans or implied wealth.

Ha ha ha. Kidding. They're just assholes.

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 79 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Force closure of the bridge, enforce a no fly zone. Cut them the fuck off until they learn.

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[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 49 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In an effort to fight this grave injustice, the community’s village council subsequently traveled to Florida’s State Capitol to lobby on behalf of the toilet-related concerns. The Times notes that Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is a member of Indian Creek Village and is on the council.

The lobbying appears to have worked, as the Times reports that a large transportation bill recently approved by the state legislature now includes a “new legal measure prohibiting municipalities from blocking or charging for the installation of certain sewer lines — like the one Indian Creek wants to build, for example.” The bill now only has to be signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis. Charles Burkett, the mayor of Surfside, told the Times that he was blindsided by the legislative effort to resolve the matter.

Sometimes I think we need some pirates to attack the island.

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[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I work in municipal government in a different enclave for the super-rich (I don't get to live here, of course). We aren't 100% billionaire, but we do have several billionaires and 100% are multi-millionares.

We also don't have the ability to test our own sewage and instead contract with a neighboring municipality.

But we pay for it. Anyone connecting has to pay impact fees. So if a sewer treatment plant costs 50 million dollars and a compound uses up 0.1% of its overall capacity had to pay 50 grand up to hook into the system, and any service line expansions required to reach their house must be paid for by the developer.

[–] buttnugget@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

The most frustrating part of this “article” was that it did not elucidate any aspect of the request or the scope of the project. Nobody knows the infrastructure except for the parties involved.

[–] MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world 28 points 2 days ago

This is far more symbolic than intended.

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