Shreveport, Louisiana Has A Bigger Economy Than Cyprus

An onerous term of the EU's bailout of Cyprus this weekend – that depositors are subject to an instant, 10 percent "tax" on the money they have in the bank before banks re-open this week – is sparking fears of systemic ripple effects across Europe, as others wonder if their deposits are still safe elsewhere.

This is truly amazing, given the size of the tiny Cypriot economy relative to the rest of the euro zone, and shows how much of a symbolic issue – namely, the breaking of trust in deposit safety in the EU – this really is.

The chart below puts the size of the Cypriot economy – at $22.4 billion – in perspective.

In fact, a better comparison for the size of the Cypriot economy might be to that of many mid-sized American cities, as the chart below shows.

The Cypriot economy is smaller than Shreveport, Louisiana's.