Monheim am Rhein has become famous and (temporarily) rich through a risky strategy. As an aggressive trade tax haven, the city has used its ideal location in the Düsseldorf and Cologne suburbia to generate far above-average revenues for many years. These were used to finance expenditures that went even farer beyond the normal municipal level. Accordingly, the city is now also record-breakingly in debt. Now in the crisis, the questionable municipal investment plans – after all, who still builds shopping centres these days? – should be scrapped, recommends Michael Thöne in DIE ZEIT (paywall).