Ah, the primal scent of wealth.
Currently in the design stage, the super-ship will feature smaller versions of the state’s famous landmarks such as the Monte Carlo Casino and racetrack, as well as swimming pools, tennis courts, a cinema, a go kart track and a Hotel de Paris.
There’s no news about a potential buyer yet. Whoever it is, I hope he gets a tax break soon.
Comrade Kevin
Guess they couldn’t get a building permit in Vegas.
Omnes Omnibus
This is possibly the tackiest thing I have ever seen.*
(*) Note: I have never been to Branson.
Meanderthal
I know it’s wrong of me, but that really makes me want to start rooting for the Somali pirates.
Hunter Gathers
At long last, our permanently aggrieved Galtian overlords now have their own floating palace. Hopefully, they’ll be able to soothe their damaged egos and fuck their high priced hookers in peace and luxury.
ploeg
And the punchline is, the owner goes belly-up and it gets bought by Carnival Cruise Lines.
Comrade Luke
@ploeg: I predict it gets built and it goes down in a mysterious fire, reimbursing either the company that couldn’t sell it or the buying that couldn’t afford it.
jeff
It probably also has roughly the carbon footprint of Delaware. That’s the ugliest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
Titans of industry used to compete at Newport with 40 foot sailing vessels.
Ija
But you’re not thinking about all those people who got jobs building this yacht, most of them probably making minimum wage. When the rich consumes, we all benefit. It’s a massive job-creation scheme. Better than anything the government has ever come up with. Tax break? Heck, the government should pay the owner for creating jobs for the economy. That’s the least the job-killing Obama administration could do.
adolphus
But just think of the jobs it’ll create!
J
Off topic, but connoisseurs of cretinism, smugness and baroque combinations thereof will not want to miss Douthat’s latest, which scales new peaks or plumbs new depths, depending on how one looks at it.
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/michael-kinsleys-utopianism/
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Sounds like a plot for a cheesy SciFi channel movie.
You could have nasty critters (mutants, natch) eating everyone aboard. Or you could have the restless ghosts of people who died making the boat eating everyone on board. And there are always aliens.
gnomedad
They can put it in a private late exactly big enough to hold the damn thing, and then the absurdity will be complete.
Omnes Omnibus
@jeff: Taste seems to have died around the same time noblesse oblige was strangled in its sleep.
Ija
@J:
You are a masochist for reading his blog. I applaud you, sir/madam. I usually confine myself to the column where he blames poor white women for getting abortions instead of serving as baby factories for rich white couples, or how blue America might have lower divorce rates and fewer teenage marriages, but that’s only because they are sinful baby killers who will go to hell.
Zifnab
They could name it the Gulch.
Maybe it could be filled with banks, serving as an alternative to the increasingly less secure Cayman and Switzerland accounts.
MonkeyBoy
Looks like Disneyland.
Tom Levenson
how in hell do you spend 1.1. billion on a yacht, no matter how tacky?
According to Rand (PDF, google — no direct linky) you could buy a gudied missile destroyer for that in 2005 — and while that’s still astonishing, at least you get some pretty amazine electronics and ordinance for that coin. A billionaire’s toy does not require the tools required to drop a really bad day at dozens of miles distance within in ten foot radius.
Seriously — is the sucker powered by unicorn sweat?
Mark S.
I don’t know much about ships, but does that thing look very stable? It looks like it would capsize in a storm cause it’s so freaking top-heavy.
And it ain’t a cruise ship (it’s only got seven rooms). This is for a billionaire and his friends.
handy
@MonkeyBoy:
I would rather own Disneyland than that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom Levenson:
To show that you can.
S. cerevisiae
As someone who appreciates a fine looking boat, that thing is a horror. I am rooting for a hurricane if such an unseaworthy monstrosity is ever built.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Crowding won’t be a problem.
To be fair this is still in the design stage. Sometimes known as the “Now that we have your attention…” stage.
The company – Yacht Island Design – doesn’t appear to have a web site beyond a page, the company name, the address and Coming Soon.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mark S.: Looks like it might be a catamaran, but I would foresee problems on anything but a glass smooth sea.
4tehlulz
I look forward to the moment this gets jacked by Somali pirates.
freelancer
So this is what Gob’s Fuck City would look like…
MikeJ
@Tom Levenson: A Gerald Ford class carrier (yes, that’s the name for the next gen US carriers) cost $8 billion without planes.
To be fair, that includes $5B for R&D, so call it $3B a pop. There are ten planned.
somethingblue
Doug, when you say you “hope” the potential buyer gets a tax break, you’re already contributing to the crushing sense of uncertainty that holds Potential Buyer in a constant state of anxious paralysis (“Should I create jobs? But … what if I don’t get a tax break? But …? Or …? But if …? And … But …?”)
I for one, am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that Potential Buyer will get a tax break. (And that our pragmatic, centrist President is the man to give it to him!)
scav
and some days, you just have to root for the pirates. then again, nobody with that shit probably has friends that would pay the ransom.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Tom Levenson: Easy you feel you are entitled to that shit. I had a boss once, and I tell no lie, who was wearing a 10K Rolex watch on her wrist (she was an attorney), on one particular Thursday morning we had a UPS shipment arrive which was a bunch of shoes she had bought while in Charlston, it was about 5K worth of shoes. That Friday she said she couldn’t pay us. She spent 5K on shoes and she couldn’t come up with the money for my $500.00 paycheck. I walked. As one of my co-workers said “if you can’t pay me on Friday then tell me on Monday, so I can take my pocket book home and spend the week in bed”
SP
The lifeboats themselves are fucking Yachts. Because, you know, you wouldn’t want to be uncomfortable if you’re about to die and pay some sweet sweet estate tax.
Gozer
I hope it hits a mine and sinks or something…isn’t this the kind of thing that some SEALs can sabotage?
Mike S
I think this one is much more practical
jeff
@somethingblue:
Here, here! Indeed, this is my ex-boss’s boat, and it’s getting pretty old, too. I’m sure he’s doing God’s work, if God is a dipshit pedophile asswipe with delusions of grandeur.
No wonder I was laid off! My $38,000 salary costs about 30 minutes of diesel fuel.
Mike S
I think this one is much more tasteful and practical
The Raven
Heee. I’ve seen this one.
Chad N Freude
From What appears to be the original report
The Eclipse yacht can be seen here.
The guys at Goldman Sachs better get on the stick. They’re falling behind.
Certified Mutant Enemy
That “yacht” would be a bitch to handle when there’s any sort of wind…
jeff
@jeff:
I cannot do links, apparently, but I was trying to link to Barry Diller’s boat. Those with more prurient interests will easily find Barry’s Boy-Toys on Google.
http://www.hauteliving.com/2009/12/barry-diller%E2%80%99s-100-million-sailing-yacht/
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Mark S.: And it ain’t a cruise ship (it’s only got seven rooms). This is for a billionaire and his friends.
Here’s Larry Ellison’s yacht (David Geffen is a co-owner). “Only” $200 million.
Alex S.
Why tax breaks? This will be its own tax haven, just like Monaco itself.
Chad N Freude
@Omnes Omnibus: It has been replaced by modeste oblige.
Allan
Are we sure this isn’t a Bruce McCall?
gbear
@Tom Levenson:
I’d buy the guided missle destroyer just for the joy of firing one of the missles into that yacht.
Omnes Omnibus
@gbear: FTW
Viva BrisVegas
This floating palace thing is so First Century. The Emperor Caligula has already been there and done it on Lake Nemi.
Caligula, now there was a guy who knew how to party. The old fashioned kind of Galtian overlord who you could really look up to and admire. If you knew what was good for you.
jeff
So nobody on the Libertarian/Conservative side has a problem with individuals accumulating GDP levels of personal wealth?
Does anyone wonder whether it is problematic for a single person to control more capital than most nations? Can we even ask?
I was talking to my grandmother, and she said something pretty cool: “if you’re making $100K, you’ve done well; it you’re making $1Million, you’ve done something wrong.
This is from a 90 year old Alabama well-off woman!
jinxtigr
I’m sorry, this is just so inefficient.
No matter HOW fat the owner is, eating him cannot possibly feed as many people as a billion dollars worth of, say, grain :D
It’s the inefficiency of agriculture writ large!
PeakVT
It won’t be built. It’s just a PR stunt to get people to notice the design firm.
morzer
Just imagine Sarah Palin waking up and screaming:
“I can see Monte Carlo from my house!”
Omnes Omnibus
@PeakVT: I would not buy from the kind of firm that would design something like this.
Alison
Good lordy. That’s just…gross. And call me a freaking soshulist but all I can think about is all the food and clothing and shelter and all that pansy stuff that much money could provide.
I don’t begrudge people some fun but FFS, if you can afford something like that you better be giving money away to others like it was your fucking job, too. Grrr.
RossInDetroit
I can see how this came about. Some megawealthy dude goes to Monaco and likes it. Wants to buy it but they say Monaco’s not for sale. “FINE!” he says. “I’ll make my OWN Monaco and it’ll be ten times better than yours and it’ll be a boat and I’ll sail it here and dock my Monaco in your stinking Monaco harbor and never set foot in your pathetic country again.”
Or that’s how it is in my head.
Martin
Pff. A real Monte Carlo yacht would have a F1 and a WRC race on it.
Tom Levenson
@gbear: Exactly my thought. Unchristian, I’ll admit, but then I’m not of that confession.
Tom Levenson
@MikeJ: Does that mean the damn thing will yaw or pitch every time the conn officer chews gum?
PIGL
If we start our fund today, we’d be able to buy a exocet missile and accessories by the time this puppy is launched. Here’s my plan.
We wait for its first encounter with moderately heavy seas, then fire. As the life-yachts are lowered into the burning seas, we deploy the mines. Five minutes later, when the Galtian overlords are franticly endeavouring to save themselves by clambering on the shoulders of their drowning mistresses and leather-slaves, we release the sharks.
srv
There are some absolute steals in the Super Yacht industry right now:
http://www.superyachttimes.com/sale
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@Litlebritdifrnt: I salute your restraint. There are just so many layers of wrong in that story I don’t know where to begin. And really, I don’t care if she was wearing a watch she got out of a bubblegum machine and had been on a $10 spree at the local $ store, you don’t just tell your employees “Whoops, no money!”
PIGL
@Certified Mutant Enemy: This is pretty disgusting, and proves he has way more money than ever he had brains. But at least it looks like a sea-worthy ocean-going vessel. Not a disgrace and an embarrassment, the hiss of the maritime world, the very ne-plus-ultra of arriviste oppulence and insecurity.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
“Take a good hard look at the motherfuckin’ boat!”
Tom Levenson
@srv: You know, this one wouldn’t be that bad…Just sayin.
morzer
@PIGL:
Sea bass with frickin’ laser beams, thank you very frickin’ much.
trixie larue
Well, they’ll have to have a health facility for the illnesses so prone to living, breeding cruise ships. And, then, of course there is the crime, jail, court facilities to deal with the riffraff that ride these boats with no regard for others’ discomfort. Eew!
PIGL
@morzer: I’ll accept this revision if I can also stipulate subtropical seas swarming with large rutting box-jellies.
morzer
@PIGL:
Suits me. They can have laser beams too, if you like.
PIGL
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko: thanks for the crowning glory of my weekend…which rilly needed one.
srv
@Certified Mutant Enemy: Larry sold his share of Rising Sun and is building something smaller. He couldn’t keep up with the Russians.
RossInDetroit
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko:
That was superb, sir.
gbear
@Tom Levenson: Did you notice that one had a 4,300 gallon fuel tank? What’s deisel fuel now – $3.50/gallon? That’s $15,000 just to fill-er-up.
PIGL
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko:
A more modest, green coloured craft.
RossInDetroit
@gbear:
It’s worse than that. Dock gas for ordinary boats has been over $4 for some time. My dad’s boat gets a little over 1 (one) MPG, so I hear about this a lot…
PIGL
@morzer: Box jellies are plenty horrible out of the box, and have the (dis)advantage of being real. Also, easily trapped in large quantities, an important part of my plan.
srv
@Tom Levenson: I’ll get this one and we can race.
Viva BrisVegas
@gbear:
What’s that? The cost of two or three Congressmen? Small change.
gbear
@Viva BrisVegas: Yea, but the Congressmen will last you for two years.
Xenos
@Litlebritdifrnt: That scenario, where someone retains employees under false pretenses but can’t afford to pay them, can be a serious issue of criminal law. Maybe not in your southern state (Georgia?), but in Mass. or NY a phone call to the AG would get that lawyer into a world of trouble.
catdevotee
@PeakVT: I would guess you are exactly right.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@PIGL: Nice swimming pool you have here. Be a shame if something nasty got in it.
Tom Levenson
@srv: You’re on. You’ve the more modern rig, but the dowager has the lines.
RossInDetroit
Another reason we need a modern W. F. Buckley. At least he had good taste in watercraft.
PIGL
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen: you are eviller than me.
Scamp Dog
@J: Actually, that column wasn’t too horrible. While there’s little actual information in it, it’s not cluttered by wrongness, either. I’m sure he’ll be back to his usual nonsense next time around, though.
celticdragonchick
I hate to say it, but that thing looks like a great target for a couple of Harpoon anti ship missiles.
RossInDetroit
@celticdragonchick:
How terribly uncivil. Prepare to be called before the Blogger Ethics Panel.
wes
bioshock 4?
barkleyg
Sounds like the rich of 2011 are picking this “emperor has no clothes” ship as replacing cocaine in the 90’s as the way for rich people to GO BROKE !
Dollared
Now…where to find that Keynes quote about taking bushels of money and dumping it into the sea….
Andrew
@Martin:
It actually does have a race track.
Carol
Why do I think that that place is the Saddam Hussein/Baby Doc special, designed to forever float in international waters far away from Human Rights activists and potential revolutionaries? If Louis the Sixteenth had something like this, he would have died of old age floating along the sea.
Ozymandias, King of Ants
@MikeJ: I know I’m late to the thread, but:
You’ve got to be kidding.
Was all the R&D to keep it from falling?
bjacques
It reminds me of the various Galtian <A HREF="http://oceania.org/">floating republics that were popular concepts on the 1990s. They’d be sovereign tax havens, of course. Not a one of them got built, which is probably a blessing. Where would you put the support staff? It was about as realistic a concept as the L-5 space colonies that were popular among Libertarians of the 1970s and 1980s.
That said, I’d be all over a reality-TV show of Galt’s Gulch or Objectivist Island. Round up a dozen or so Ayn Rand fans, put ’em up in a house, on an island, in an abandoned suburb, whatever. Give ’em whatever they want, but when stuff breaks, they have to fix it themselves. Now, *that* I would pay to see. Until then, well, J.G. Ballard’s “High-Rise” is still in print, I think.
As for Roman Abramovitch and his ilk, I hear Chinese and Iranian super-cavitating torpedoes/surface-skimming missiles are dirt-cheap. Total Eclipse of the Yacht!
Anne Laurie
It may not be a hovercraft and yet it would hold many, many eels!
Since a boat is a hole in the water into which one pours money, proper conspicuous consumption therefore involves creating the largest possible hole…
JGabriel
I spot a design flaw in the picture: Where does the helicopter go when you want to play tennis?
I couldn’t possibly consider purchasing this yacht until that’s rectified. So amateurish. It’s like the designers don’t have any real understanding of a billionaire’s needs.
.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@srv: This yacht would be quite adequate for a family of 4. The rich may not like that it can’t accommodate a crew or helicopter and doesn’t have pool. Plus one would never be bothered by a film crew wanting to use one’s yacht as the headquarters of a villain in James Bond movie.
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s what I was thinking, and, no I have never been to Branson either.
Paul in KY
@MikeJ: I would be afraid that a ‘Gerald Ford’ class carrier would run into an iceberg….in the Caribbean.
Edit: Some jokes just write themselves :-)
retr2327
Where’s an iceberg when you really need one?