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Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

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Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#61
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not moral behavior. Getting a second citizenship?

The act is not in question...its the motives that are.

Simple, this was probably in motion during Trump era - and for whatever reason (ability to work overseas, live overseas in EU, own property etc) there was an advantage to having an EU passport. This gets him that.

Not totally unreasonable for a global CEO.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#62
post #45
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, why not? If not for people taking advantage of "the system", "the system" would not exist. I mean; here we have a guy that has taken all the advantage of all the benefits a developed industrial country has to offer and then in turn does everything in his power to give back as little as possible. Hell yeah I'm going to blame him. It's not moral behavior. I don't care whether it is legal or not, he's behaving like…

> that has taken all the advantage of all the benefits a developed industrial country has to offer a. He has also given a lot more back to the said country. than he has taken from it, IMO. Imagine what life would be like without Google. b. Google is a global company, not just a US company c. I don't believe in the notion of nations or citizenship and don't blame him if he doesn't either and is switching citizenships…

[deleted]

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying one. Citizenship is something that ought to be earned and given to people who show that they want to live in and contribute to a country. People like Schmidt purchase themselves a tax excemption or freedom of movement in a world where ordinary people right now lose their jobs and are locked into their country.

American citizens living and working abroad still must pay taxes to the US Government. As far as I am aware, the US is the only country in the world with this requirement. There is a reason the FBAR requirement is often called the "fubar" requirement.

Norway has the same.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#64
post #13

I literally just read an article 10 minutes ago saying he is expected to lead a tech industry taskforce for the Biden administration. Not a good look to be taking on a more involved role in US governance the exact same moment you're applying for citizenship of a different country.

Oppo dumps are a highly effective way to blow up someone's appointment in a new administration.

He is up for the head of a taskforce and not a cabinet position. That means this is neither a particularly powerful position or one that will require any congressional or other approval. I doubt there is any real political motivation to leak this info. If this was leaked nefariously, my money would be on the motivation being personal.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people think this is a "bad thing"? It's no different than buying an expensive home anywhere in the world, except it comes with a citizenship. I doubt he can use the favorable taxation - he would have to renounce his US citizenship for that.

When a billionaire makes a move like this (getting citizenship in another country) it’s often criticized as an “escape plan”, or somewhere to run if any number of bad things happen to or in the USA. It’s viewed a little differently from most other ex-pats because these are the people who have the money and power to dramatically influence the government, so if they’re running from something here in the US, it’s either…

Google bought YouTube in 2006. Schmidt was CEO until 2011. YouTube got out of control with disinformation mostly after 2011. And he probably had almost nothing to do with YouTube in the five years he was CEO after Google purchased YouTube.

I wouldn't blame Schmidt much for YouTube's disinformation problem. I'd blame the people directly running YouTube (especially people running it recently / now).

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#67
If this is indeed for a tax dodge, what's funny is that the US Government helped fund Google. Or, more accurately, they funded the research into the seemingly esoteric problem that became Google;

> In 1995, one of the first and most promising MDDS grants went to a computer-science research team at Stanford University with a decade-long history of working with NSF and DARPA grants. The primary objective of this grant was “query optimization of very complex queries that are described using the ‘query flocks’ approach.” A second grant—the DARPA-NSF grant most closely associated with Google’s origin—was part of a coordinated effort to build a massive digital library using the internet as its backbone. Both grants funded research by two graduate students who were making rapid advances in web-page ranking, as well as tracking (and making sense of) user queries: future Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

> The research by Brin and Page under these grants became the heart of Google: people using search functions to find precisely what they wanted inside a very large data set. The intelligence community, however, saw a slightly different benefit in their research: Could the network be organized so efficiently that individual users could be uniquely identified and tracked?

Not to mention In-Q-Tel's investment into one of their key products, Google Maps via Keyhole. And DARPA's Grand Challenge that led to the Stanley car that was acquired and scaled up to make Google's automated car division.

Google has done an admirable job of taking Government sponsored R&D and maturing it into products. They deserve their success. But, in my opinion, the systemic lack of reinvestment into the pipeline that created them and their most successful products is equivalent to sawing off the branch that they're sitting on.

The US Govt couldn't have invented the iPhone or Google's search engine, but they did fund the first Integrated Circuits, the first IC-based computer, the internet, GPS, discrete problems in computer science involving searching large amounts of data, display technologies, battery technologies, MEMS sensors etc etc.

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#68
Yeah, I can see how the desire to pour over extra 00's on your bank statement would warrant a move out of the US.

That being said, it makes no sense to sit on that money unless he plans to use to benefit the people of Cyprus

Edit: As others have pointed out...for someone with such legal resources at their disposal, why the need for citizenship when he could simply apply for an investors visa at a much lower cost?

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#69

I cannot stand this manufactured outcry over a nothing burger. The EU wanted to make a big deal out of selling citizenship. Like how DARE Cyprus sell citizenship that comes with EU membership! No, rich people should sign up for an """investment""" VISA from the Netherlands instead! That's how they should be let in. The Netherlands is an honorable upstanding country that most definitely would NEVER allow questionable…

A visa is in fact very different from citizenship in many ways. For example but not limited to: judicial protection, extradition privileges, voting rights, travel rights in other member states, social security, diplomatic protection in other countries, ...

Re: Eric Schmidt has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus

#70
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, why not? If not for people taking advantage of "the system", "the system" would not exist. I mean; here we have a guy that has taken all the advantage of all the benefits a developed industrial country has to offer and then in turn does everything in his power to give back as little as possible. Hell yeah I'm going to blame him. It's not moral behavior. I don't care whether it is legal or not, he's behaving like…

> It's not moral behavior. Getting a second citizenship?

FYI not just any citizenship.

On top of the obvious tax benefits in Cyprus, the country is also member state of the EU since 2004.

That means 'Citizenship of the European Union', that includes the ability to travel to anywhere in the EU (visa free), the Ability to reside anywhere in the EU, hell Schmidt could even run for public office in any EU local governments municipal elections if he so wishes.

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