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A country so hard core capitalist that most of the key players are state (federation, kanton or city) held ? (Transportation, Weapon Manufacturing, main telecom
by drcursor 7y ago
A country so hard core capitalist that most of the key players are state (federation, kanton or city) held ? (Transportation, Weapon Manufacturing, main telecommunication companies, main consumer bank, hospitals, schools) and where some of the largest and most influential companies like supermarkets, furniture shops, etc are cooperatives ?
- Annatar 7y ago...And of those that are, they're under constant pressure to be profitable (as they should be). Need I remind how the latest round of aggressive, systemic, years long cost cutting at SBB left the infrastructure in need of revision and killed a conductor, while the federal government just booked 2.2 billion CHF ($2.23 billion USD) net profit? And the Swiss national bank, sitting on nearly 900 billion CHF in foreign currency, desperately trying to keep the value of the Swiss franc from skyrocketing into stratosphere?
- drcursor 7y agoI'm not denying anything you just said, I would even add to your list the private health insurance companies with their ever increasing costs, that, for most of the population only serve as a men in the middle for the base (mostly state provided) health care system. I just think its not fair to describe Switzerland as a liberal-capitalist heaven when it clearly is a protected economy with a lot of control from what would normally be defined as the 'state'.
- jpadkins 7y agowhy do you think cooperatives are anti-capitalist or anti-free market? I've always thought of coops as a natural byproduct of free market systems (sometimes orgs require outside capital, some orgs can be self funded).
- Annatar 7y agoI'm wondering the same thing: a cooperative doesn't clash with capitalism, especially if it's for profit.