Europe – Cyprus

EU Citizenship Goes On Sale, Price War Breaks Out

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on EU Citizenship Goes On Sale, Price War Breaks Out

The huddled masses yearning to breathe free in the EU drown by the boatload in the Mediterranean. They languish in detention centers in Greece and elsewhere. They’re maligned, hounded, sometimes killed. But it’s getting cheaper and easier for the rich.

Cyprus Today: A Personal Account

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Cyprus Today: A Personal Account

Quiet … EMPTY … If you want to make a deal opening a shop of some sort, you can pick and choose amongst prime locations. The time is now, if that is your inclination, and if you have the financial staying power, or a concept for selling things people can’t do without, something cheap! Every second shop, ah OK, maybe every third or fourth, is closing down.

Austria’s Last Stand Against EU Assault On Bank Secrecy

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Austria’s Last Stand Against EU Assault On Bank Secrecy

Austria would fight to maintain bank secrecy, declared uppity Finance Minster Maria Fekter. She is worried. After squashing Cyprus, gutting its offshore financial and money laundering center, and destroying its main resource, the EU has now trained its big guns on Austria and Luxembourg.

The Gloriously Ballooning Bailout Bedlam Of Cyprus

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Gloriously Ballooning Bailout Bedlam Of Cyprus

The average Cypriot household had a phenomenal net worth of €670,900 in 2010 – over three times that of German households. That wealth had been sucked out of the cesspool of corruption that the banks and the government were, until neither had a drop of lifeblood left. Now the party is over. And you can almost hear the snickering among European politicians.

From Tax Hell to Tax Haven

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on From Tax Hell to Tax Haven

Eurozone countries are falling like dominos. Next: Slovenia. But bailouts – by taxpayers in other countries – keep banks from collapsing, governments from defaulting, and investors from incurring well-deserved losses. In the US, President Obama’s budget, with its new taxes, is causing heart palpitations left and right. But how do countries really stack up?

Total Fiasco: Germans are the Poorest, Cypriots the Second Richest in The Eurozone

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Total Fiasco: Germans are the Poorest, Cypriots the Second Richest in The Eurozone

In March, the ECB-organized Eurozone-wide household-wealth survey results trickled out. But when the Bundesbank refused to publish the German data, insiders leaked the reason: too explosive for the bailout era because Italian households were far wealthier than German households. Shocking! And a red herring. The truth turned out to be far more shocking.