End or the world or serious collapse... early warning signs?

I took a vacation right around the time Harold Camping predicted the end of the world. Plenty of high-end yachts were still docked in the marinas, and seeing them made me think: when you're in that club of the ultra, ultra elite, wouldn't someone in the highest circles of government quietly tip you off? That in the days ahead of a society-disrupting conflict, disorder, disaster, etc there would be a LOT of these large pleasure craft leaving their slips and heading off to private islands, or perhaps even remaining out at sea?
And perhaps the same could be said of private jets - that general aviation hangars will be unusually empty of Gulfstream and Embraer jets?
Is it possible that by tracking these departures and matching them against regattas and festivals like Cannes to help weed out "false positives", the "rest of us" could possibly get a leg up?

I concur oh great brick o 22's! Leg up fer us aye. And to what avail? Let these bloodsucking cockroaches scurry to their underground leir's to leave the rest of us to our doom. Fear not. I smile as I write this, they shall be sought out and THEY SHALL REAP WHAT THEY HAVE SOWN. And reap they shall. By the hand of the Lord Shiva himself. Woe shall be unto them all. They will have nowhere to hide. Divine Justice is absolute.

If it was a genuine disaster, without manipulation from higher powers, then the elites are as screwed as the commoners. If this theory were true then look at who stayed at the numerous resorts off of Thailand during the '04 tsunami. Conspiracies abound how HAARP was alleged to be behind that tsunami, if that was true then any NWO elites, including relations and personal staff, would have had the heads up hours earlier.

It escapes my understanding how anyone could believe they would be safe taking off in their boat when TSHTF.

We would be thrown back to the days of the pirates and I would be one of them trying to survive with my mates.

I am a life long river rat and would lurk amongst the tree line at the banks of the intercoastal waterways and
have my crew slip aboard your boat, subdue you and take your provisions if we were in need.

Being a good pirate I would leave a knife close for you to find so you could cut your ropes and regain control of your boat that my crew had set adrift.

Then back into the shadows I would melt.

Keeping and defending a home base on shore would be most advisable.

There will be chaos.
River rats will survive.

Peace and fair weather to you all.

Originally posted by Cheerfulnihilist
If it was a genuine disaster, without manipulation from higher powers, then the elites are as screwed as the commoners. If this theory were true then look at who stayed at the numerous resorts off of Thailand during the '04 tsunami. Conspiracies abound how HAARP was alleged to be behind that tsunami, if that was true then any NWO elites, including relations and personal staff, would have had the heads up hours earlier.

Whether it does any good or not, if there's enough time, I think our leaders will warn their wealthy friends, and we'll see the marinas and hangars emptying out of these multimillion dollar craft. Fleeing isn't always rational, it's an act of attempted survival.

That said, I still think a well-provisioned oceangoing vessel would be an ideal survival strategy. If your boat gets away in time, you won't be flooded by a tsunami or shaken by an earthquake. You certainly can't be beseiged by masses of starving people fleeing disaster or conflict. If there's a huge eruption or nuclear meltdown, you can sail away from the worst of it, and with knowledge of prevailing winds probably stay out of fallout zones.

The sign to watch for is when multiple Senators/Congressmen/Key Politicians begin to mysteriously disappear from public view.

Originally posted by Cryptonomicon
The sign to watch for is when multiple Senators/Congressmen/Key Politicians begin to mysteriously disappear from public view.

Honestly, I don't think they're in "public view" that much anyway. You probably can't find out their appearance schedule from their assistants for "security reasons" and in any event the horrible Tucson shooting has probably made the whole "meet and greet" thing a bit scarier for the Congresscritters anyway.

Public service isn't public school - no one is going to send them to "detention" or suspend them for not showing up at their job.

Very few of them take commercial flights, as far as I know. As I understand it, their routine business involves flying both domestically and internationally either on a chartered private jet or use of a spare seat on a military transport.

I think they'd be only marginally less visible if they're fleeing to some sort of contingency bunker.