Born and raised in Monaco here. The article paints a very incomplete picture, told from the minority standpoint of mostly wealthy socialites and residents. There are also about 50K people commuting into Monaco daily from neighboring cities (Nice, Cannes, La Turbie, Beausoleil, etc.) who are just middle-class wage workers, and who form the bulk of Monaco's active population. In the daytime, Monaco is mostly alive from their presence, as they outnumber residents. At night, well, Monaco isn't very much alive at all.
Many if not most of the wealthy residents who can afford the insane real estate prices also own multiple properties worldwide (London, NYC, Lugano, Singapore, etc.), and shuttle between them all year round, so they aren't even there permanently. Monaco is only a fiscal residence for many of them.
Beyond the surface-level glitz, e.g. the Formula 1 and the fancy cars parked in front of the Casino, what's interesting is that the little old unassuming lady in sweatpants walking her dog in the morning may actually be a multi-billionaire, and you wouldn't be able to tell. Lot of old money that likes to keep to itself, as opposed to nouveaux riches who like to flaunt.
This is analogous to Singapore, with a huge army of workers resident in Malaysia crossing over every day, and most returning every night. Hong Kong is somewhat similar but less so: there is enough cheap housing for a significant proportion of the cheaper labour (below millionaire class) to live in the economies boundaries.
The article does make it clear that Monegasques have significant state support for housing but that's on the assumption they aren't millionaires. The mobile workforce from outside is presumably given one of two "perks" -lower taxation outcomes (although I suspect there is some bilateral tax treaty) for at least income tax, and higher pay than they'd get working in their domicile.
I'm trying to steer clear of approval or disapproval writing this. I can't imagine making either of the two choices: to be a tax exile living there but with no statehood, or to be a mobile worker working there but having to return to an EU economy every night. The third option, being Monegasque is not open to me any more than Maltese citizenship, which is also much sought, and hard to get although not as hard as this one.
A surprising number of british working class people have Maltese citizenship, similarly Gibraltarian: thats what the british Navy does for you. I wonder if in millionaires row their advice for non-dom includes "marry a maltese"
I’ve always wondered: How do billionaires ensure their security?
Does this old lady have no security detail at all? Are they as prone as us to street-mugging?
Do people like usual unicorn CEOs, I know some who have street-facing houses or houses without a big fence (they don’t live in gated communities), have armed guys to protect against intruders? Do they walk their dog at night? let their kids walk to school in the morning? Do they have security detail for all this, or are they just like us, crossing their fingers that crime be low? Being CEOs with large interests at stake, they surely receive targeted blackmailing in large quantity, don’t they? Even as billionaires, do they simply take the first Uber from their airport to a downtown hotel? Do they simply assume airport-uber-hotel facilities are naturally safe, even considering how much interest they concentrate on their person?
Rich people love to distinguish between old and new rich. Am I supposed to somehow be impressed by this? Old rich just use their money for pleasure and status like new rich do, they just have different more obtuse ways to do it.
I went to Monaco on my honeymoon(one of a few places I visited). A few things the article does not mention are that the local residents cannot gamble at the cities casino. I believe that the casino is one of the largest sources of revenue for the city state. The aquarium and palace are very nice and the palace in particular has alot of history and continuing tradition. Was shocked at the number of luxury cars that were in our parking garage(we drove in), like at least 20-30 Ferraris, Rolls Royce and Bentleys in the garage we parked at. Having grown up in the sf bay area which is very wealthy, the level of wealth here was amazing even to me. I know the country is desperately trying to add more land, this means building out into the sea and building up(high rises). The city state is on a somewhat hilly area which further restricts available building areas. Overall it was a great trip and the people were all friendly and it seemed very safe, lastly I really enjoyed the beer Brasserie de Monaco pilsner(locally brewed).
Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard that for Monaco nationals, housing is heavily subsidized. Otherwise they simply wouldn't be able to live in their own country!
I personally know a Monaco national. Typical middle-class lifestyle, maybe he secretly has a fortune be he doesn't look like it. Interestingly, despite living effectively in France, he is not French, he is not even a EU citizen, it means that when he went to study in France, he had to do more paperwork than someone from, say, Germany.
And BTW, while I didn't live in Monaco, I went there a few times (2h drive from where I live) and it definitely feels the way you describe it.
> around 8,000 of the people who live in Monaco are Monegasque citizens
I have the luck of being friends with one of the precious few citizens of Monaco, who chose to leave in BC. There are fun trivia about citizenship in such a small city-nation, especially abroad. First of which is that the Monegasque consul to Canada is not Monegasque himself, and has very, very few citizens to tend to (by cheer luck it turns out I also know that person's son! ). When my friend needed to renew his passport, he just called the consul, who told him "oh, I need to figure out how to get you one", which process was effectively more or less having my friend to drop an email to the person in Monaco who prints passports. Same thing when he got kids.
We went to the US together once, and had to get through immigration because as a Monegasque he can't get dual citizenship. The immigration agent kept us longer, asking all sorts of questions because that was the first time he saw a passport.
Interestingly his kids can have both citizenships, his wife could technically acquire it but it would be subject to remaining married with him and thus she would be allowed to keep her citizenship in case they would ever divorce.
He can get a French id card and a French passport and work in France without a visa, but can't vote in the French presidential elections.
Basically, it is siad that you have to have the French nationality in order to get the identity card. The identity card states "Nationalité Française" on the very top.
We have similar law in Lithuania regarding the dual citizenship: you can't have it, but if your kids were born abroad and gained citizenship of another country by the right of birth, then they get to keep both citizenships.
>First of which is that the Monegasque consul to Canada is not Monegasque himself
That means that he is an honorary consul. That's how countries handle diplomatic duties in less-important places; a local person (who might be a current or former citizen of the country he represents, or a local citizen who has done business or studied in the other country) is paid a stipend to handle routine duties and can put "honorary consul of _____" on his résumé.
I wish society in general worked like this: less formality, more informality, more relationships.....
.... I could move to a small town. I've always lived in a large metropolis and, to be frank, I'm tired of it. I can't move to Monaco, or make the global population decrease by 90%, but I could move to a smaller community in my state. I think this is what I need to start building more relationships with other people.
Made an account for the sole purpose of commenting on this. CNN is usually pretty out of touch, this is completely backwards for what should be a "respectable" news source.
As others have mentioned, these "ultra rich flashy billionaires" are not the typical Monaco resident. These people are heavily looked down upon if they're just out to attract attention, and usually they're driven out of the principality once the money tap goes dry.
There is a lot of money in the city, a lot of family offices, banks and so on. People are pretty quiet and keep to themselves. Go to Cap d'Ail or Cap Martin for a walk and you'll see the same Monaco 4-character plate cars, but with the actual residents who just want to live their lives without the hassle of trying to look cool at Buddha Bar every night.
And the main point, as has been mentioned many times: people who get the residency card in Monaco are unlikely to spend much time there, beyond the mandatory 6 months + 1 day. Some pay people to run their taps and leave lights on, faking utilities usage as a proxy for physically being there. Others are in either at a nice canton in Switzerland or partying in NYC.
Places like this are a good reason we need global tax minimums agreements.
US is driving this currently at corporate level, which is the more important, but would be good to see on personal rates too. I think this is one of the most important global trade issues today, and it gets very little attention.
If only selfishly, as we see the a continuing race to the bottom on corporate tax rates. Also that they tend to be well below personal rates these days plus this gap widening. Increasingly this tax burden needs to be picked up from citizens. I suspect this is a significant variable of the degrading working/middle class lifestyle.
Would love to see more countries come together on this issue. Most of the time its significantly in the wests interest to make this happen, so shows that the corporate lobby has so much power here in that it doesn't. And generally its important for global trade to compete on a level playing field or we start to break the system and interest in it.
I think this rant is a little tired, but I do agree with one point you made, and it’s been something I’ve been thinking a lot about.
> Also that they tend to be well below personal rates these days plus this gap widening. Increasingly this tax burden needs to be picked up from citizens. I suspect this is a significant variable of the degrading working/middle class lifestyle.
I think that we should radically raise corporate tax rate on profits, and provide marginally zero tax on any income (up to a large limit, eg $500k) that isn’t capital gains. This would shift the focus of corporations from increasing profits and stock price and instead put the focus on paying employees more. It was also shift corporate focus less on stock price rises and more on dividend increases (capital gains vs income).
These two things seem like they’d provide a much more stable environment for workers. Paying employees more becomes the new tax write off. Employees benefit because they don’t worry about taxes and get paid more, and it reduced the economic benefit of keeping the money in the company instead.
This is sick. Just because I live in Singapore and pay about 20% income tax and zero corporate tax, I"m apparently degrading the working class lifestyle?
Why does Singapore have better infrastructure and governance than your country? With no natural resources and no land.
You cannot buy your way out of bad governance. If you want a better "lifestyle", elect a better government, the tax rate paid by people in foreign countries has nothing to do with it.
If country can do with less money it might attract more businesses. This pushes others to improve their operations too. Global tax minimums remove or soften this incentive which is a bad thing. Most governments are not efficient already and this will not help.
I don't know about living there, but I've followed Formula 1 for almost 50 years and the Monaco F1 Grand Prix circuit is one of the last of the true classic circuits left.
In my mind Monaco is synonymous with Formula 1. Obviously there's the iconic race (which, as an aside, doesn't suit the modern F1 car, which has become too large for a narrow street circuit).
But the other side is F! notable people who become tax residents. Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and probably many others. They're Monaco residents for the zero income tax. As an aside, how long are we, as a society, going to tolerate people being able to pay no tax just by having a certain address?
But F1 has always had its fair share of what are known as "pay drivers". These are drivers who only really have a seat because their family owns a team or spends a significant amount or is a title sponsor. Lance Stroll is an example of this on the current grid.
And then there's Charles LeClerc. He's a driver for Ferrari and a Monaco resident but what makes him interesting is that he's a native Monagasque.
Wealth is (thankfully) mostly ephemeral, typically only lasting 3 or so generations. Cornelius Vanderbilt made a fortune in the railroads in 19th century America. Anderson Cooper is a Vanderbilt. As his mother (Gloria Vanderbilt) told him: "there is no trust fund". The Astor name and fortune ended when the last heir died on the Titatnic. The Rockefeller family is still rich but nothing compared to their Standard Oil forebear namesake. The early Roman Republic had ~45 Patrician families. By Julius Caesar's time this had dwindled to ~15.
So I'm always interested in when someone of incredible privilege like Charles Leclerc also somehow becomes extremely driven and talented (which he is). I feel like it's hard to avoid the trap of having no unmet needs tends to make one completely useless.
I grew up working class 20mn from Monaco. That place has been an excellent introduction to the notion of inequality.
It is quite unique. The entire riviera’s economy is focused on tourism, but Monaco takes that to the next level : it is a city designed to attract the ridiculously rich and extract as much money from them as possible while they are there through a carefully maintained wealth signaling culture.
My go-to example is this : a couple of years back I visited the region with some friends and took them to Monaco one day. Obligatory visit to the Casino, around which two things had changed :
- the park in front of the casino had been redesigned. You know how airports force you to go through the duty free, or IKEA has you walk around the entire store to find the exit ? Well that’s what they did with that park, the only way to the casino is through the (luxury brands) shops
- in front of the casino itself, there was a new statue with a plaque. The plaque states « artist : anish kapoor. Donated to the principality of Monaco by miss so and so »
Nothing says « wealth signaling » like donating an anish kapoor to Monaco.
When I say that culture is carefully maintained: the Monaco police will turn you down at the city entrance if you’re driving a beater. They have asked me to take a detour rather than drive my crappy moped in front of the casino. I general, Monaco only exposes you to luxury and incentivized you to show off by burning money.
The default tip to service staff is the highest denomination bill. When the currency changed, it went from the highest francs bill to the highest euros bill - easy conversion.
I could go on and on about how ridiculous this all is, the permanent yacht completion in the port, the luxury sports cars stuck in a permanent traffic jam (locals drive mopeds), the dozens of « out of touch oligarch » stories, the looks of disgust and disbelief I’d get for wearing regular clothes…
In the flip side, Monaco treats their workers well. I have worked a few summer jobs well and everyone I know in the area works is has worked in Monaco. The minimum wage is higher, low income jobs get more after tax than before (there is a « prince’s bonus »). You will at least double your income from tips if you work in the service industry.
Like the article says, The country has been good with its population, allowing them to benefit from living in a playground for the rich rather than displacing them. As a result the royal family is well liked, and it’s not uncommon to meet the prince at places where the workers hang out.
If you think Donald trump has good taste in interior design, love the smell of money and tax evasion or just have a lot of money you’d like to get rid of, visit Monaco !
More seriously, I’d recommend paying it a visit if you find yourself in the vicinity. It is a unique place that will be of interest to curious folks.
Also it’s becoming increasingly difficult legally avoid tax so people actually have to physically move to the tax havens instead of just sending their money there.
Also keep in mind the Swiss effectively abandoned their 200 year old policy of neutrality over the Ukraine - Russian conflict.
Millionaires and billionaires take note of this sort of thing, and while it may not be an overnight exodus, it certainly does change things. Like most finance text books begin with: "money goes where it is treated best".
So they praise safety of this place. I'm not sure what will prevent petty criminals to commute from Nice, raid for some expensive watches and then get away? It's not like there's a big fence or anything.
A loathesome place filled with tax evaders hiding their wealth from the countries and citizens that made them rich.
When I watch those programs which celebrate the 'glamour' and 'lifestyle' of these people, all I wish for is a small suitcase nuke that could improve the world overnight.
> A loathesome place filled with tax evaders hiding their wealth
Lets not forget gold diggers, influencers, and poor people commuting in from France/Italy every day to all the boring work. Sounds like a pretty cool place!
Why are postings to that Internet that are labelled essentially as ‘news articles’ taken more seriously and with less scrutiny than an average Reddit post?
Unlike many ‘news articles’ emanating from the likes of CNN, this one is attributed to a named person. What qualifications does this person have and what research was undertaken to write a credible article on life in Monaco? My conclusion is that it is click-bait junk. Why was this article deemed important or interesting or relevant to the HN community?
This is not a news article, it's under travel which is a common genre of story telling/writing. You might read similar articles in a travel magazine on a plane.
I personally clicked because Monaco = F1 in my brain, I am curious about the town. Primarily I am interested in tech news but occasional side tracks of interesting things are welcome.
[+] [-] scirpaceus|3 years ago|reply
Many if not most of the wealthy residents who can afford the insane real estate prices also own multiple properties worldwide (London, NYC, Lugano, Singapore, etc.), and shuttle between them all year round, so they aren't even there permanently. Monaco is only a fiscal residence for many of them.
Beyond the surface-level glitz, e.g. the Formula 1 and the fancy cars parked in front of the Casino, what's interesting is that the little old unassuming lady in sweatpants walking her dog in the morning may actually be a multi-billionaire, and you wouldn't be able to tell. Lot of old money that likes to keep to itself, as opposed to nouveaux riches who like to flaunt.
[+] [-] ggm|3 years ago|reply
The article does make it clear that Monegasques have significant state support for housing but that's on the assumption they aren't millionaires. The mobile workforce from outside is presumably given one of two "perks" -lower taxation outcomes (although I suspect there is some bilateral tax treaty) for at least income tax, and higher pay than they'd get working in their domicile.
I'm trying to steer clear of approval or disapproval writing this. I can't imagine making either of the two choices: to be a tax exile living there but with no statehood, or to be a mobile worker working there but having to return to an EU economy every night. The third option, being Monegasque is not open to me any more than Maltese citizenship, which is also much sought, and hard to get although not as hard as this one.
A surprising number of british working class people have Maltese citizenship, similarly Gibraltarian: thats what the british Navy does for you. I wonder if in millionaires row their advice for non-dom includes "marry a maltese"
[+] [-] eastbound|3 years ago|reply
Does this old lady have no security detail at all? Are they as prone as us to street-mugging?
Do people like usual unicorn CEOs, I know some who have street-facing houses or houses without a big fence (they don’t live in gated communities), have armed guys to protect against intruders? Do they walk their dog at night? let their kids walk to school in the morning? Do they have security detail for all this, or are they just like us, crossing their fingers that crime be low? Being CEOs with large interests at stake, they surely receive targeted blackmailing in large quantity, don’t they? Even as billionaires, do they simply take the first Uber from their airport to a downtown hotel? Do they simply assume airport-uber-hotel facilities are naturally safe, even considering how much interest they concentrate on their person?
[+] [-] nathanvanfleet|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] subsubzero|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MuffinFlavored|3 years ago|reply
why doesn't she hire a dog walker then?
/s
[+] [-] stuaxo|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GuB-42|3 years ago|reply
I personally know a Monaco national. Typical middle-class lifestyle, maybe he secretly has a fortune be he doesn't look like it. Interestingly, despite living effectively in France, he is not French, he is not even a EU citizen, it means that when he went to study in France, he had to do more paperwork than someone from, say, Germany.
And BTW, while I didn't live in Monaco, I went there a few times (2h drive from where I live) and it definitely feels the way you describe it.
[+] [-] throwaway1777|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] the_chatman|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] charles_f|3 years ago|reply
I have the luck of being friends with one of the precious few citizens of Monaco, who chose to leave in BC. There are fun trivia about citizenship in such a small city-nation, especially abroad. First of which is that the Monegasque consul to Canada is not Monegasque himself, and has very, very few citizens to tend to (by cheer luck it turns out I also know that person's son! ). When my friend needed to renew his passport, he just called the consul, who told him "oh, I need to figure out how to get you one", which process was effectively more or less having my friend to drop an email to the person in Monaco who prints passports. Same thing when he got kids.
We went to the US together once, and had to get through immigration because as a Monegasque he can't get dual citizenship. The immigration agent kept us longer, asking all sorts of questions because that was the first time he saw a passport.
Interestingly his kids can have both citizenships, his wife could technically acquire it but it would be subject to remaining married with him and thus she would be allowed to keep her citizenship in case they would ever divorce.
He can get a French id card and a French passport and work in France without a visa, but can't vote in the French presidential elections.
[+] [-] BrandoElFollito|3 years ago|reply
Are you sure of that (i.e. do you have sources?) The French Senate page says the opposite: http://www.senat.fr/questions/base/2018/qSEQ180906725.html
Basically, it is siad that you have to have the French nationality in order to get the identity card. The identity card states "Nationalité Française" on the very top.
[+] [-] cosmodisk|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TMWNN|3 years ago|reply
That means that he is an honorary consul. That's how countries handle diplomatic duties in less-important places; a local person (who might be a current or former citizen of the country he represents, or a local citizen who has done business or studied in the other country) is paid a stipend to handle routine duties and can put "honorary consul of _____" on his résumé.
[+] [-] Victerius|3 years ago|reply
.... I could move to a small town. I've always lived in a large metropolis and, to be frank, I'm tired of it. I can't move to Monaco, or make the global population decrease by 90%, but I could move to a smaller community in my state. I think this is what I need to start building more relationships with other people.
[+] [-] olabyne|3 years ago|reply
I don't see how that's true. If you have a French ID card, you are a french citizen, and de facto you can vote.
[+] [-] capitalatrisk|3 years ago|reply
As others have mentioned, these "ultra rich flashy billionaires" are not the typical Monaco resident. These people are heavily looked down upon if they're just out to attract attention, and usually they're driven out of the principality once the money tap goes dry.
There is a lot of money in the city, a lot of family offices, banks and so on. People are pretty quiet and keep to themselves. Go to Cap d'Ail or Cap Martin for a walk and you'll see the same Monaco 4-character plate cars, but with the actual residents who just want to live their lives without the hassle of trying to look cool at Buddha Bar every night.
And the main point, as has been mentioned many times: people who get the residency card in Monaco are unlikely to spend much time there, beyond the mandatory 6 months + 1 day. Some pay people to run their taps and leave lights on, faking utilities usage as a proxy for physically being there. Others are in either at a nice canton in Switzerland or partying in NYC.
[+] [-] Gustomaximus|3 years ago|reply
US is driving this currently at corporate level, which is the more important, but would be good to see on personal rates too. I think this is one of the most important global trade issues today, and it gets very little attention.
If only selfishly, as we see the a continuing race to the bottom on corporate tax rates. Also that they tend to be well below personal rates these days plus this gap widening. Increasingly this tax burden needs to be picked up from citizens. I suspect this is a significant variable of the degrading working/middle class lifestyle.
Would love to see more countries come together on this issue. Most of the time its significantly in the wests interest to make this happen, so shows that the corporate lobby has so much power here in that it doesn't. And generally its important for global trade to compete on a level playing field or we start to break the system and interest in it.
[+] [-] vineyardmike|3 years ago|reply
> Also that they tend to be well below personal rates these days plus this gap widening. Increasingly this tax burden needs to be picked up from citizens. I suspect this is a significant variable of the degrading working/middle class lifestyle.
I think that we should radically raise corporate tax rate on profits, and provide marginally zero tax on any income (up to a large limit, eg $500k) that isn’t capital gains. This would shift the focus of corporations from increasing profits and stock price and instead put the focus on paying employees more. It was also shift corporate focus less on stock price rises and more on dividend increases (capital gains vs income).
These two things seem like they’d provide a much more stable environment for workers. Paying employees more becomes the new tax write off. Employees benefit because they don’t worry about taxes and get paid more, and it reduced the economic benefit of keeping the money in the company instead.
[+] [-] abigail95|3 years ago|reply
Why does Singapore have better infrastructure and governance than your country? With no natural resources and no land.
You cannot buy your way out of bad governance. If you want a better "lifestyle", elect a better government, the tax rate paid by people in foreign countries has nothing to do with it.
[+] [-] khiqxj|3 years ago|reply
> therefore we need global tax minimum agreements
how does this follow? this isnt reddit or 4chan; your particular philosophy isnt assumed to be truth.
[+] [-] myroon5|3 years ago|reply
Corporate income taxes only bring in ~5% of the US Federal budget, all the individual taxes have always been more substantial:
https://taxfoundation.org/how-has-federal-revenue-changed-ov...
[+] [-] jiriknesl|3 years ago|reply
If country can do with less money it might attract more businesses. This pushes others to improve their operations too. Global tax minimums remove or soften this incentive which is a bad thing. Most governments are not efficient already and this will not help.
[+] [-] notright6|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dmichulke|3 years ago|reply
I ask because taxes are the price you pay for (insert your country's services here).
[+] [-] W-Stool|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] discordance|3 years ago|reply
Living, for most, would include things like grocery shopping, getting around, transport, activities etc but this article does not mention any of that.
[+] [-] cletus|3 years ago|reply
But the other side is F! notable people who become tax residents. Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and probably many others. They're Monaco residents for the zero income tax. As an aside, how long are we, as a society, going to tolerate people being able to pay no tax just by having a certain address?
But F1 has always had its fair share of what are known as "pay drivers". These are drivers who only really have a seat because their family owns a team or spends a significant amount or is a title sponsor. Lance Stroll is an example of this on the current grid.
And then there's Charles LeClerc. He's a driver for Ferrari and a Monaco resident but what makes him interesting is that he's a native Monagasque.
Wealth is (thankfully) mostly ephemeral, typically only lasting 3 or so generations. Cornelius Vanderbilt made a fortune in the railroads in 19th century America. Anderson Cooper is a Vanderbilt. As his mother (Gloria Vanderbilt) told him: "there is no trust fund". The Astor name and fortune ended when the last heir died on the Titatnic. The Rockefeller family is still rich but nothing compared to their Standard Oil forebear namesake. The early Roman Republic had ~45 Patrician families. By Julius Caesar's time this had dwindled to ~15.
So I'm always interested in when someone of incredible privilege like Charles Leclerc also somehow becomes extremely driven and talented (which he is). I feel like it's hard to avoid the trap of having no unmet needs tends to make one completely useless.
[+] [-] dangus|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iodbh|3 years ago|reply
It is quite unique. The entire riviera’s economy is focused on tourism, but Monaco takes that to the next level : it is a city designed to attract the ridiculously rich and extract as much money from them as possible while they are there through a carefully maintained wealth signaling culture.
My go-to example is this : a couple of years back I visited the region with some friends and took them to Monaco one day. Obligatory visit to the Casino, around which two things had changed :
- the park in front of the casino had been redesigned. You know how airports force you to go through the duty free, or IKEA has you walk around the entire store to find the exit ? Well that’s what they did with that park, the only way to the casino is through the (luxury brands) shops - in front of the casino itself, there was a new statue with a plaque. The plaque states « artist : anish kapoor. Donated to the principality of Monaco by miss so and so »
Nothing says « wealth signaling » like donating an anish kapoor to Monaco.
When I say that culture is carefully maintained: the Monaco police will turn you down at the city entrance if you’re driving a beater. They have asked me to take a detour rather than drive my crappy moped in front of the casino. I general, Monaco only exposes you to luxury and incentivized you to show off by burning money.
The default tip to service staff is the highest denomination bill. When the currency changed, it went from the highest francs bill to the highest euros bill - easy conversion.
I could go on and on about how ridiculous this all is, the permanent yacht completion in the port, the luxury sports cars stuck in a permanent traffic jam (locals drive mopeds), the dozens of « out of touch oligarch » stories, the looks of disgust and disbelief I’d get for wearing regular clothes…
In the flip side, Monaco treats their workers well. I have worked a few summer jobs well and everyone I know in the area works is has worked in Monaco. The minimum wage is higher, low income jobs get more after tax than before (there is a « prince’s bonus »). You will at least double your income from tips if you work in the service industry.
Like the article says, The country has been good with its population, allowing them to benefit from living in a playground for the rich rather than displacing them. As a result the royal family is well liked, and it’s not uncommon to meet the prince at places where the workers hang out.
If you think Donald trump has good taste in interior design, love the smell of money and tax evasion or just have a lot of money you’d like to get rid of, visit Monaco !
More seriously, I’d recommend paying it a visit if you find yourself in the vicinity. It is a unique place that will be of interest to curious folks.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] sgu999|3 years ago|reply
Because we're not barbarians, we may tolerate that they don't eat croissants for breakfast.
[+] [-] WalterBright|3 years ago|reply
Inflation will do that.
[+] [-] cjbgkagh|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tenpies|3 years ago|reply
Millionaires and billionaires take note of this sort of thing, and while it may not be an overnight exodus, it certainly does change things. Like most finance text books begin with: "money goes where it is treated best".
[+] [-] atmosx|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chihuahua|3 years ago|reply
90 Euros per square meter per month - for 100 m^2 (small) that's 9000 Euros/month
70,000 Euros per m^2 to buy - 7 million Euros for a small 100 m^2 condo
It sounds like a person with a net worth of 1 million Euros would be forever unable to buy anything, and spending a small fortune for rent.
[+] [-] tasuki|3 years ago|reply
Yeah no. The world is getting safer and hasn't become "so dangerous", especially not "nowadays".
[+] [-] thriftwy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nigerian1981|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cheradenine_uk|3 years ago|reply
When I watch those programs which celebrate the 'glamour' and 'lifestyle' of these people, all I wish for is a small suitcase nuke that could improve the world overnight.
[+] [-] bjarneh|3 years ago|reply
Lets not forget gold diggers, influencers, and poor people commuting in from France/Italy every day to all the boring work. Sounds like a pretty cool place!
[+] [-] shp0ngle|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] euroderf|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sebstefan|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vjulian|3 years ago|reply
Unlike many ‘news articles’ emanating from the likes of CNN, this one is attributed to a named person. What qualifications does this person have and what research was undertaken to write a credible article on life in Monaco? My conclusion is that it is click-bait junk. Why was this article deemed important or interesting or relevant to the HN community?
[+] [-] chrisan|3 years ago|reply
I personally clicked because Monaco = F1 in my brain, I am curious about the town. Primarily I am interested in tech news but occasional side tracks of interesting things are welcome.
[+] [-] andsoitis|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1attice|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] modzu|3 years ago|reply
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