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I'm sympathetic to your point, in general, but Switzerland is hardly a good example: > when America develops drugs for them, "Switzerland is home to many pha

by JackFr 10y ago

I'm sympathetic to your point, in general, but Switzerland is hardly a good example: > when America develops drugs for them, "Switzerland is home to many pharmaceutical companies, including very large groups, such as Novartis and Hoffmann-La Roche. In 2013, 41 life science companies had their international headquarters (and 29 more their regional headquarters) in Switzerland. The pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people.[1] It contributes to 5.7% of the gross domestic product of Switzerland and contributes to 30% of the country's exports.[1]" > protects them from harm, "The Swiss Armed Forces (German: Schweizer Armee, French: Armée suisse, Italian: Esercito svizzero, Romanisch: Armada svizra) operates on land, in the air, and in international waters. Under the country's militia system, professional soldiers constitute about 5 percent[citation needed] of the military and the rest are conscripts or volunteers aged 19 to 34 (in some cases up to 50). Because of Switzerland's long history of neutrality, the armed forces do not take part in conflicts in other countries, but it does participate in international peacekeeping missions. Thousands of tunnels, highways, railroads, and bridges are built with tank traps and primed with demolition charges to be used against invading forces; often, the civilian engineer who designed the bridge plans the demolition as a military officer. Hidden guns are aimed to prevent enemy forces from attempting to rebuild.[14] Permanent fortifications were established in the Alps, as bases from which to retake the fertile valleys after a potential invasion. They include underground air bases that are adjacent to normal runways; the aircraft, crew and supporting material are housed in the caverns." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry_in_Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry_in_Swi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces

valuearb 10y ago
Those drugs were developed with stolen money, their banking system is the worlds harbor for frauds, thieves and dictators funds, and gets to lend all that money out at cheap rates. Mining tunnels is cheap compared to a real military. Pax Americana means they, like all european countries, don't spend a fraction of what we spend on defense.
- jerven 10y ago
  Offence! the US army has an unequaled capacity for actually running an offence war (or 2) anywhere in the world. No other military has even a fraction of that capacity. Basically the US really needs defence from Canada and Mexico, no one else can attack the US in any sensible way. Even if european countries spend 3% of their GDP on defence like in the cold war all that money would be spend on soldiers that can defend and very little on those that can attack. Not nearly enough logistics! The US not needing defence can spend on offensive capabilities instead. This it does, plus scale benefits mean that the US is the undisputed winner in any war.
  - jacobush 10y ago
    Too bad the US uses this ability a bit to liberally.
- Chyzwar 10y ago
  Pax Americana means that when US mess-up Middle East then EU will pick up refuges? Pax Americana mean than US organise coups in democratically elected governments Iran 53, Chile 73, Paname support dictatorships: Hussein, Mubarak, Pinochet sponsor terrorists: Contras and start wars: Vietnam, Iraq, Afganistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r... Your military spending for 1.5 trillion dollars on F35 is truly admirable, but this fighter is still not ready. In many cases NATO countries are forced to buy US produced weapons because of "compatibility".
gnopgnip 10y ago
If 100% of the Swiss GDP went to pharmaceutical spending it would still be less than the United states. The benefit Switzerland gets from the US military is about trade. Without the US presence around the world there would be no one to export goods to.
SilasX 10y ago
>The pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people. It contributes to 5.7% of the gross domestic product of Switzerland and contributes to 30% of the country's exports." And those Swiss (or French, or Italian, or Japanese) pharma profits are also high, in large part, because some countries' citizens pay the "gouge" rates for those drugs. That's still consistent with the parent's point[1] that America is bearing the cost of these drugs, effectively subsidizing other countries that negotiate good deals. [1] at least, a charitable generalization of it
jacobush 10y ago
Lovely. Sounds like Sweden 20 years ago :-/

by JackFr 10y ago

valuearb 10y ago

Those drugs were developed with stolen money, their banking system is the worlds harbor for frauds, thieves and dictators funds, and gets to lend all that money out at cheap rates. Mining tunnels is cheap compared to a real military. Pax Americana means they, like all european countries, don't spend a fraction of what we spend on defense.

jerven 10y ago
Offence! the US army has an unequaled capacity for actually running an offence war (or 2) anywhere in the world. No other military has even a fraction of that capacity. Basically the US really needs defence from Canada and Mexico, no one else can attack the US in any sensible way. Even if european countries spend 3% of their GDP on defence like in the cold war all that money would be spend on soldiers that can defend and very little on those that can attack. Not nearly enough logistics! The US not needing defence can spend on offensive capabilities instead. This it does, plus scale benefits mean that the US is the undisputed winner in any war.
- jacobush 10y ago
  Too bad the US uses this ability a bit to liberally.
Chyzwar 10y ago
Pax Americana means that when US mess-up Middle East then EU will pick up refuges? Pax Americana mean than US organise coups in democratically elected governments Iran 53, Chile 73, Paname support dictatorships: Hussein, Mubarak, Pinochet sponsor terrorists: Contras and start wars: Vietnam, Iraq, Afganistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r... Your military spending for 1.5 trillion dollars on F35 is truly admirable, but this fighter is still not ready. In many cases NATO countries are forced to buy US produced weapons because of "compatibility".

gnopgnip 10y ago

If 100% of the Swiss GDP went to pharmaceutical spending it would still be less than the United states. The benefit Switzerland gets from the US military is about trade. Without the US presence around the world there would be no one to export goods to.

SilasX 10y ago

>The pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people. It contributes to 5.7% of the gross domestic product of Switzerland and contributes to 30% of the country's exports." And those Swiss (or French, or Italian, or Japanese) pharma profits are also high, in large part, because some countries' citizens pay the "gouge" rates for those drugs. That's still consistent with the parent's point[1] that America is bearing the cost of these drugs, effectively subsidizing other countries that negotiate good deals. [1] at least, a charitable generalization of it

jacobush 10y ago

Lovely. Sounds like Sweden 20 years ago :-/