Nov 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Center for Switzerland Progress
FYI — I’m right now at JFK airport about to depart for a week-long trip to Switzerland courtesy of the Swiss-America Foundation during which time I’ll be learning important things about the Switzerland, the Swiss-American relationship, and of course how to implement European-style socialism here in the USA.
The trip will last about a week. Blogging will continue apace, but due to various commitments and time zone issues may end up off the usual schedule.
62 Responses to “Center for Switzerland Progress”
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November 7th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Learning about Socialism from the Swiss? Might as well learn laconicism from the Italians.
November 7th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
so you blogged about your trip to iceland and soon after their banks went down in flames… i hope the story won’t repeat itself with us, otherwise we’ll blame you and all your socialist followers! (i would have written ‘friends’ but that was before i heard you were the 9th most important person in the world.) welcome to switzerland matt
November 7th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Psellus gets the comment of the month award.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Nice work if you can get it. Insert Petey “trust fund scumbag” joke here.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Switzerland socialist? Really? This the same Switzerland that is one of the banking centers of the world? Looks like Matthew knows as much about Switzerland as Palin does about Africa.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Psellus and Al apparently didn’t read the “European-style” preceding “socialism.” I’m pretty sure Matt’s talking about social democracy, not 100% nationalised means of production, you numbnuts.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
So long as they don’t declare war on us, I’ll consider the trip a success by your standards.
Psellus and Al you might be interested in looking up the word “irony” in the dictionary. Also check if “snark” has made the OED yet.
On the other hand, I know some Italians who are so laconic that they drive me crazy and Switzerland has some elements of socialism. It does have a state(s) that function(s) competently (and confederally) lots of socialist voters (in the elections which never ever change anything) universal health insurance, and trains that run like Swiss watches. They also make watches which run like Swiss trains.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
“The” Switzerland?
Does Matt personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and that our education like such as in Europe and the Switzerland everywhere like, such as that they should, our education over here in the US?
Does Matt agree that it should help Europe and should help the Switzerland and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children?
November 7th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Phil you meant to type “childrens” didn’t you ? Their are more than one of them.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Swiss socialism is full of holes.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Psellus and Al apparently didn’t read the “European-style” preceding “socialism.” I’m pretty sure Matt’s talking about social democracy
Since Europeans have been busy for many years now cutting taxes, deregulating markets and privatizing formerly state-owned industries and companies, he’s likely to learn more about abandoning social democracy.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I’m interested to hear what you think of the health-care system there. They have great coverage and high quality care (reimbursement for many services such as diagnostic tests are higher than in the US) all at about 3/5 of what we pay. Private insurance but highly regulated and required of everyone. I hope you get a chance to observe and comment.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I for one welcome a week’s worth of jejune and obvious comments about Swiss public transit.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Heh, Matt’s not the first person to confuse Sweden and Switzerland. I worked in Basel for nearly 5 years and go back every year to visit my Swiss in-laws, and still do so occaisonally.
Make sure to get some Roesti, and prefer raclette to Fondu.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Mixner said: “Since Europeans have been busy for many years now cutting taxes, deregulating markets and privatizing formerly state-owned industries and companies, he’s likely to learn more about abandoning social democracy.”
Get back to me when they’ve dumped the dole, public pensions and medical, and broken the unions. Then we can talk about how laissez faire the EU is.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
While there see what you can detect in the Swiss soul that will help explain how they were the only country on the planet during WWII to profit from the war and how they were bankers for the Nazis and were the main depository of confiscated Jewish wealth and how happy they were to cooperate in sending Jews to their death. Remember the documentary on the trains loaded with Jews sent through their country to death camps? They are the Dorian Gray of Europe.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Apparently the Obama election has drained all of the humor from the world, so that our resident trolls can no longer tell when Matthew is joking.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Get back to me when they’ve dumped the dole, public pensions and medical, and broken the unions.
I’m not sure why you think the fact that those things are still present means that social democracy in Europe has not declined.
Union membership has long been in decline in Europe, just as it has in the U.S.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I have lived and worked in US, UK and Switzerland.
For many people, it is a truism that there are no socialists en Suisse.
However, in my Canton, 40 years ago, the “Parti du Travail” won a local election, which prompted me to quip:
Workers of Switzerland unite: you have nothing to lose but your gains!
More seriously, I see that this party is still active though it not clear whether it is still electable.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I’m not sure how I feel about this. Neutral?
November 7th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Re: I’m pretty sure Matt’s talking about social democracy, not 100% nationalised means of production, you numbnuts.
Even with that definition, Switzerland is probably the least socialist country in Europe. Its universal healthcare for example is based entirely on private insurers (rather like the Romney plan in Massachusetts) and it’s also Europe’s most expensive, approaching American per capita levels.
And then there are those Swiss banks, beloved of tax-cheats everywhere…
November 7th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Phil says: “The” Switzerland?
Bien sûr: “La” Suisse!
La Suisse, ou la Confédération suisse pour les usages officiels, est un pays d’Europe de l’Ouest.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Why would they break the unions? Many European companies are both massively profitable and heavily unionized. BMW, for example, is among the most profitable car companies on earth. Their auto union puts the UAW to shame. But, of course, when the subject is unions, people like to elide any contrary evidence and just say “wah wah, unions bad.”
November 7th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
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November 8th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Why would they break the unions? Many European companies are both massively profitable and heavily unionized. BMW, for example, is among the most profitable car companies on earth. Their auto union puts the UAW to shame. But, of course, when the subject is unions, people like to elide any contrary evidence and just say “wah wah, unions bad.
Union membership in Switzerland is pretty light actually. Taxes are considerably lower than in the US, but the safety net is rather more generous. It’s substantially easier to start a business, and many German and Ftench entrepreneurs incorporate in der Schweitz rather than their home countries for this reason.
For my money it’s the model of how a country ought to be run, but I believe the model works primarily due to the mores of Swiss culture which emphasize hard work and honesty and because the ruling elite are almost totally homogenous and vigorously defend the long term interests of the country.
The stability and prosperity of the country is especially impressive given it’s highly federal nature.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Let me know if they use the Google in the Switzerland.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Might also want to imbibe some of that Swiss perspective on international affairs. It’s amazing how much time, money and headache can be avoided when a country sticks to running its own affairs instead of meddling in everybody else’s.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Yes, please tell us all about teh Switzerland.
Seriously, dude, hire a proofreader.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:27 am
Google doesn’t seem to know “Center for Switzerland Progress” or “Swiss-America Foundation”. How intriguing.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Nola…
Does the existence of http://www.google.ch blow your mind?
It even searches in Romansch.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:47 am
La Suisse, ou la Confédération suisse pour les usages officiels, est un pays d’Europe de l’Ouest.
Also known as the “Confederation Helvetica” (and similar variations on the Latin). Thus the “CH” stickers on the cars and coins. I’ve spent quite a bit of time there, and would go back without hesitation.
While the U.S. struggles with bilingualism, we could learn something from the Swiss and their four official languages. A friend of mine grew up in a Swiss town where the French/German linguistic boundary ran down the street in front of her house. Her father spoke German, but her mother was a francophone. She and her two children are perfectly trilingual in French, German (both High German and the Swiss variety) and English, and very competent in Italian.
The incredibly efficient Swiss train network offers a glimpse of an alternate reality for the U.S. It’s rivaled only by the Japanese system.
Geneva hosts a large UN operation, but Switzerland is still not a member. The Swiss have also rejected the Euro in favor of the franc.
And if offers a mountain landscape that’s unsurpassed on the planet, IMHO.
November 8th, 2008 at 3:46 am
So Anon, did you find them in google.ch?
November 8th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Matt, that’s great. We have lived here now for eight years. While you’re in Zurich, would be happy to meet up and give you some perspective, as American ex-pats, answer any questions, give travel advice, etc. And having first-hand experience with the health care system (up to yesterday’s visit to the ER after making an unfortunate face plant while cycling to work), am also happy to comment on its strengths and weaknesses.
Email if you would like to arrange a coffee, drink, etc.
AMF
November 8th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Matt’s just going there to stash some of the big money he’s getting from blogging in a bank the IRS can’t get the records of.
And of course to stuff his face with chocolate.
Next picture of himself he posts he better have the beard back or his face will be riddled with zits from all the candy.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Also, Nola, Google’s largest engineering hub outside the US is based in Zurich. Google now has about 400 engineers from 40 countries based there.
http://tinyurl.com/6qld9o
AMF
November 8th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Have a closer look at the health insurance system while you’re there. SFIK this hews pretty closely – like Barack Obama’s – to the original Bismarckian plan of a hodge-podge of occupational schemes and a public backup.
An anecdote on Swiss public transport. A few years ago I went on a walking tour in the Engadine, ending up at a village about 30 miles on narrow mountain roads from the nearest station on the picturesque narrow-gauge railway. The postal bus was timetabled for a 5-minute connection. I needn’t have worried: bus and train were perfectly on time. Oh, and I’d went my suitcase on ahead between villages by bus. That worked perfectly too.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Does anybody know Petey’s identity IRL? Would it be crazy to think it might be Elizabeth Edwards? I don’t mean that as a cruel joke. If I were E.E. I would prolly agree with much of what the infamous Petey has to say.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:18 am
David Broadhurst says:
Bien sûr: “La” Suisse!
La Suisse, ou la Confédération suisse pour les usages officiels, est un pays d’Europe de l’Ouest.
Ayant moi-meme vecu en France, je suis souvent aller en Suisse, et je connais le pay tres bien. Mais en Anglais, nous n’utilisons pas un article avant le nom d’un pays. Unless we’re talking about the Gambia.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Aaaand apologies for the typos. I just woke up.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:26 am
It really should be ‘Center for Swiss Progress’, as your institute isn’t the Center for USA Progress
November 8th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Let me know if they use the Google in the Switzerland.
As amf noted, with a broken link, the Google is in the Switzerland.
For my money it’s the model of how a country ought to be run
Making citizenship applications subject to the secret veto of local bigots, not so much.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Mais en Anglais, nous n’utilisons pas un article avant le nom d’un pays
Comment traduisez vous “Les États Unis d’Amérique”?
ou “Le Royaume Uni”?
November 8th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Re JonF’s comment “And then there are those Swiss banks, beloved of tax-cheats everywhere…”
————-
Er..lately, not so much.
From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/31/AR2008103103727.html
“At the Beverly Hills office of criminal defense lawyer Edward M. Robbins Jr., anxious new clients are showing up with an unexpected problem.
The clients put money in Swiss bank accounts, where it was supposed to stay secret. But now those depositors fear the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department will gain access to their bank records, Robbins said.
“They’re coming in from the cold. They’re nervous,” Robbins said.
And with good reason, the former federal prosecutor said. A lawyer who specializes in tax cases, Robbins thinks the government is gearing up to prosecute large numbers of Americans for failing to disclose foreign accounts on their tax returns and evading taxes on income generated by the accounts.
“If I were one of these guys with 10 to 50 million in my account, I’d be having an aneurysm,” Robbins said. “It’s an extremely dangerous situation for these guys.”
The legendary secrecy of Swiss banks has come under fresh assault lately from U.S. and European authorities who say their citizens have used the privacy to hide assets and dodge taxes.
The U.S. effort to capture back taxes targets Americans who hold undeclared accounts at UBS, one of Switzerland’s largest banks. The developments could put UBS in legal jeopardy and undo the reputation for confidentiality that has helped make a small nation in the Alps a magnet for international deposits. “
November 8th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
After 911 –and the widely publicized announcements of US Government attempts to monitor wire transfers for terrorist fundings — I don’t understand why anyone would put their money overseas. You might as well hand your list of assets over to the National Security Agency.
Plus you can no longer simply stroll back and forth across the Mexican border the way you used to. In that sense, our national security walls are keeping us in as much as they are keeping foreigners out. Yin and Yang.
November 8th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Obviously the recent economic crisis (and his large illegal donations to the Obama campaign) have put a serious dent in MattY’s trust fund. He is off to Geneva to pull out some hidden cash to get him through until Obama puts him on the payroll.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
It really should be ‘Center for Swiss Progress’, as your institute isn’t the Center for USA Progress
OK, got it finally. You need to be well versed in All Things Yglesias before reading this blog.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I wouldn’t worry that much about Swiss bank secrecy being breached by the US. The US has been trying that for decades with no results. Sure, the Swiss banks – especially those with US branches subject to US laws – might throw the odd American tax cheat to the wolves IF the US can make a case that looks criminal under SWISS law – and nothing in Swiss law protects drug dealers or fraud criminals – but generally the Swiss are really unlikely to breach their bank secrecy to the degree that people with a lot of bucks hidden away are likely to be compromised.
Basically the people who are worried about that are people who didn’t take the additional necessary precautions in terms of transporting their funds to Switzerland or establishing relations with Swiss attorneys who can act for them.
UBS, I believe, in particular has branches in the US and therefore is a risky endeavor. I looked into this way back in the ’70’s. Trying to get your money to Switzerland secretly via a US branch of a Swiss bank is simply a no-no. Wire transfers from the US are not a good idea either.
If you really have serious amounts of money you want moved to Switzerland, there are ways.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Re “If you really have serious amounts of money you want moved to Switzerland, there are ways.”
———–
Well, sure, but why would you want to do that? You have to smuggle the capital out of the country — or trust someone to arrange a swap — and then go through the whole routine when you want to access the money.
In contrast , you can buy gold coins, diamonds, rare stamps,etc here and conceal them yet have them readily at hand.
Re ” nothing in Swiss law protects drug dealers or fraud criminals ”
Well, some fairy godmother certainly waved her wand over Marc Rich’s head –although maybe that fairy godmother was in the Oval Office.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
The Islamic fund transfer system was interesting — whereby workers here could remit money back to their families in their home countries without useing Western Union or banks wire transfers. Basically, you handled a guy money here in the USA , he places a phone call, and his partner overseas hands an equal amount of money to your relative or agent in the foreign country. Nothing leaves the US except for a phone call.
However, my understanding was that the US Government was planning to crack now on this network because of its obvious utility for terrorists.
You could use encryption — but I would think that would simply attract the notice of the government.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Re: Plus you can no longer simply stroll back and forth across the Mexican border the way you used to.
One hope I have for the Obama administration is that it revisits the passport requirement for land crossings to Canada and maybe Mexico. This is hugely unpopular in border areas both north and south (and with our neighbors too of course). Nor can I see how it does us one whit of good in terms of security. The 9-11 guys entered the US quite openly and legally and this passport requirement would not have prevented their entry.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:17 am
I knew it! You people want to turn this country into a weatlhy, equal, dynamic, peaceful, just, internally harmonious socialist nightmare! If you succeed you will bury the Republican Party forever, and then you’ll have your one party dictatorship!
Never!!
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