These are people with a few million in assets. Enough to retire comfortably. These are not the "Power Elite". At least, there is no evidence that these people are "Ultra-Wealthy", only that they have reached a certain threshold that the US Govt keeps track of them. And it's peaked at around 7,000 persons per year. Hardly a tidal wave of capital flight.
Have you considered that this story was titled in such a way to elicit an emotional response?
I forgot I was on HN. Before we start discussing white papers on how emotionally gullible consumers of information can be, let's look at the article, shall we?
"There are probably 20,000 or 30,000 people who want to do this, but they can’t get the appointment".
And
"A lot of people who take this drastic step are tech zillionaires: Eric Schmidt, the former Alphabet CEO, has applied to become a citizen of Cyprus."
I agree with you, but want to point out that those numbers come from a law firm that specializes in this, from a lawyer who is quoted whenever the story comes up.
Have you considered that this story was titled in such a way to elicit an emotional response?