Vienna

"Liupanshui locals greeted Li’s plans mostly with skepticism. Though their region is home to waterfalls, karst caves, and stunning green mountains, the city itself has little of beauty. Local industry consisted of coal and iron mining. One man wondered to a TV crew, “We don’t have much to see here. How much money would we have to spend to create something worthwhile?” Li Zaiyong believed a great deal, and he mobilized a great deal of funds to make things happen. Since he was the top official in the city, local banks had a hard time saying no to him. But none of Li’s efforts bore fruit. Liupanshui never developed into an appealing ski destination: China’s skiers went to the northeast in the winter, which has real slopes and real snow. Richer tourists from Beijing and Shanghai skipped Li’s gaudy European facsimiles for the real deal in Venice and Vienna. The faux European town squares have been taken over by local black goats, which treat the lawns as grazing grounds. Even the chestnut rose bushes died."

"In Hayek’s view, even well-intentioned state actions ended up causing far more human suffering than the market-based ills that they were meant to correct. His most famous example of this was the policy of rent control, which was big in Hayek’s hometown of Vienna. Politicians put a cap on rent prices to help people who rented homes and apartments. But Hayek described a long list of unintended consequences. The controls made it unprofitable for landlords to reinvest their cash in money-losing apartments, for example, so those apartments devolved into squalor. Because there was no incentive to build new apartment buildings, housing shortages became perpetual. Big families were stuck in small apartments because they couldn’t afford to move out of their rent-controlled dwellings. Hayek said this proved a simple point: cutting one thread in the tapestry of a free market—even with the goal of helping people—only unraveled other parts of the tapestry."

"In Hayek’s view, even well-intentioned state actions ended up causing far more human suffering than the market-based ills that they were meant to correct. His most famous example of this was the policy of rent control, which was big in Hayek’s hometown of Vienna. Politicians put a cap on rent prices to help people who rented homes and apartments. But Hayek described a long list of unintended consequences. The controls made it unprofitable for landlords to reinvest their cash in money-losing apartments, for example, so those apartments devolved into squalor. Because there was no incentive to build new apartment buildings, housing shortages became perpetual. Big families were stuck in small apartments because they couldn’t afford to move out of their rent-controlled dwellings. Hayek said this proved a simple point: cutting one thread in the tapestry of a free market—even with the goal of helping people—only unraveled other parts of the tapestry."

"Reinhard knows Dr Grimm well, from the Credit Anstalt Bankverein of Vienna, the Austrian state bank and the main shareholder of the leading Austrian tire manufacturer, Semperit. The Credit Anstalt is seeking an aggressive alliance for Semperit. And as the Austrians observe Michelin’s growth in Europe, they are ready to discuss the possibility of a rapprochement with the French group. Especially since Michelin, in the past, has sold its X tire license to Semperit and still supplies it with cables for its steel radial production."

"They start with the grinding of lenses imported from France, to be inserted into metal frames produced in Vienna. Water is the driving force that moves the mechanisms in a rudimentary way, especially the grinding wheel, to produce the first metal spectacles. A small mill in the middle of the woods, far from railways, from inhabited centers, and from industrial ones."

"René Benko created something great and then destroyed much of it. Solid business operations and trust in the solidity of the real estate business were left by the wayside. Even though the business and legal processing will take years and it is likely that Benko will have to face court, he did not build the castle in the air called Signa alone. He readily found financiers, including wealthy private individuals, bank managers and insurance people, foundation managers, and Arab sheikhs. Benko invited them to his yacht "Roma" or his estate high above Lake Garda, or he quickly flew to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, to Hamburg or Vienna on his private plane. And all the economic experts willingly gave him capital, apparently without really examining his business model. Just as auditors and real estate appraisers played their roles in the illusion theater of the Austrian entrepreneur. The lawmakers in Germany and Austria, who left gaps through which the clever newcomer slipped, also bear some of the blame."

"René Benko created something great and then destroyed much of it. Solid business operations and trust in the solidity of the real estate business were left by the wayside. Even though the business and legal processing will take years and it is likely that Benko will have to face court, he did not build the castle in the air called Signa alone. He readily found financiers, including wealthy private individuals, bank managers and insurance people, foundation managers, and Arab sheikhs. Benko invited them to his yacht "Roma" or his estate high above Lake Garda, or he quickly flew to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, to Hamburg or Vienna on his private plane. And all the economic experts willingly gave him capital, apparently without really examining his business model. Just as auditors and real estate appraisers played their roles in the illusion theater of the Austrian entrepreneur. The lawmakers in Germany and Austria, who left gaps through which the clever newcomer slipped, also bear some of the blame."

"Benko invited them to his yacht "Roma" or his estate high above Lake Garda, or he quickly flew to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, to Hamburg or Vienna on his private plane. And all the economic experts willingly gave him capital, apparently without really examining his business model."