4 ms·

"Currently an estimated 28 percent of all funds held outside the country of origin (sometimes called "offshore" funds) are kept in Switzerland." https://en.wik

"Currently an estimated 28 percent of all funds held outside the country of origin (sometimes called "offshore" funds) are kept in Switzerland." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Switzerland#Banking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Switzerland#Banking It's cute that she even provides numbers and leaves this out. This is the only number you need to know. Everything else is the direct result of this. You know who else does awesome? A closed community of multi-millionaires in the USA. Except you're not a part of that elite. Somehow, you got to be part of the European elite (anyone who lives in Switzerland) and feel like the rest of the world can magically live like that. No, that lifestyle is at the expense of the rest of the world.

eps 11y ago
> Everything else is the direct result of this. Pray tell the details.
- IshKebab 11y ago
  Pretty obvious no? Switzerland is a smallish country that acts as a moral-free world bank. It's easy for them to become rich in that situation.
  - once-in-a-while 11y ago
    Where I live, "moral-free" is called "immoral".
    - IshKebab 11y ago
      Nah I actually meant amoral (just forgot the word). Amoral means ignoring the morality. Immoral means that it is definitely bad. In other words, not all money held in Switzerland is ill-gotten - they don't care either way.
bsbechtel 11y ago
Exactly. The reason Switzerland can live like this is because of the political environment in Europe that allows specialized, regional industries to keep their wealth instead of transferring it to poorer regions through cross-continental benefit programs. Vox, where this was originally posted, posted multiple times about how this is one of the causes of the Greek crisis, but never mentioned Switzerland or the other Nordic countries, just Germany and France. Switzerland's situation is similar to if New York were its own country, and didn't have to pay any federal taxes. Instead, New Yorkers would pay high taxes from their high salaries, mainly from Wall Street, to lift the living standards of only New Yorkers, which costs significantly less than paying for an entire country.
- masklinn 11y ago
  > The reason Switzerland can live like this Oh bullshit, all of the points enumerated in the article save for average salary (which clearly isn't the article's focus) are equally applicable throughout western and northern europe, except maybe in the UK.
  - bsbechtel 11y ago
    So you're essentially agreeing with the point that the rich countries (western and northern Europe) can afford to live like this, while the poor countries of Europe suffer through crisis after crisis because they can't afford the social programs their richer neighbors have.
toephu2 11y ago
That was a long time ago...Since 2009 actually the U.S. started going after them, it was all over the media.. not sure if you saw it..http://www.irs.gov/uac/Offshore-Tax-Avoidance-and-IRS-Compliance-Efforts http://www.irs.gov/uac/Offshore-Tax-Avoidance-and-IRS-Compli... and http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/10/25/73-0f-100-swiss-banks-in-bed-with-the-irs-are-eyeing-the-sofa/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/10/25/73-0f-100-...
sltkr 11y ago
From the paragraph you quoted: > In 2003, the financial sector comprised an estimated 11.6% of Switzerland's GDP and employed approximately 196,000 people (136,000 of whom work in the banking sector); this represents about 5.6% of the total Swiss workforce. So while it's clear that the banking sector is big, it's not the only thing propping up the Swiss economy. There are other prosperous countries in Europe (e.g. Norway) that don't have a disproportionally large banking sector, and some which do but recently failed (Cyprus, Iceland).

eps 11y ago

> Everything else is the direct result of this. Pray tell the details.

IshKebab 11y ago
Pretty obvious no? Switzerland is a smallish country that acts as a moral-free world bank. It's easy for them to become rich in that situation.
- once-in-a-while 11y ago
  Where I live, "moral-free" is called "immoral".
  - IshKebab 11y ago
    Nah I actually meant amoral (just forgot the word). Amoral means ignoring the morality. Immoral means that it is definitely bad. In other words, not all money held in Switzerland is ill-gotten - they don't care either way.

bsbechtel 11y ago

Exactly. The reason Switzerland can live like this is because of the political environment in Europe that allows specialized, regional industries to keep their wealth instead of transferring it to poorer regions through cross-continental benefit programs. Vox, where this was originally posted, posted multiple times about how this is one of the causes of the Greek crisis, but never mentioned Switzerland or the other Nordic countries, just Germany and France. Switzerland's situation is similar to if New York were its own country, and didn't have to pay any federal taxes. Instead, New Yorkers would pay high taxes from their high salaries, mainly from Wall Street, to lift the living standards of only New Yorkers, which costs significantly less than paying for an entire country.

masklinn 11y ago
> The reason Switzerland can live like this Oh bullshit, all of the points enumerated in the article save for average salary (which clearly isn't the article's focus) are equally applicable throughout western and northern europe, except maybe in the UK.
- bsbechtel 11y ago
  So you're essentially agreeing with the point that the rich countries (western and northern Europe) can afford to live like this, while the poor countries of Europe suffer through crisis after crisis because they can't afford the social programs their richer neighbors have.

toephu2 11y ago

That was a long time ago...Since 2009 actually the U.S. started going after them, it was all over the media.. not sure if you saw it..http://www.irs.gov/uac/Offshore-Tax-Avoidance-and-IRS-Compliance-Efforts http://www.irs.gov/uac/Offshore-Tax-Avoidance-and-IRS-Compli... and http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/10/25/73-0f-100-swiss-banks-in-bed-with-the-irs-are-eyeing-the-sofa/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/10/25/73-0f-100-...

sltkr 11y ago

From the paragraph you quoted: > In 2003, the financial sector comprised an estimated 11.6% of Switzerland's GDP and employed approximately 196,000 people (136,000 of whom work in the banking sector); this represents about 5.6% of the total Swiss workforce. So while it's clear that the banking sector is big, it's not the only thing propping up the Swiss economy. There are other prosperous countries in Europe (e.g. Norway) that don't have a disproportionally large banking sector, and some which do but recently failed (Cyprus, Iceland).