Nov 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Monday Conflict of Interest Blogging
Just for the record, the following appears to be the policy agenda of Swiss business who may or may not have bought my loyalty with a trip to their Magical Land of Chocolate.
- Rolex wants us to clamp down on counterfeiting of their product.
- Swiss Re wants you to believe that their business isn’t exposed to the kind of systemic risks that brought the financial sector down.
- Swiss business in general doesn’t want to be forced into the EU’s tax harmonization scheme.
- Nestle doesn’t want people to give bottled water a hard time, and thinks we should reduce trade barriers in agriculture.
- Swiss private bankers want to maintain strong bank privacy rules.
So that’s the word.
UPDATE: Note that I’m not endorsing these claims, just passing them on.
32 Responses to “Monday Conflict of Interest Blogging”
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November 17th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Did you check up on the trust fund?
November 17th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
If that’s what Rolex wants, why did it shut down its email address for reporting bootleg watch spam, at least two years ago?
November 17th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2XTuc6i1Uo
November 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Bottled water is a waste of money in places that have safe drinking water supplies, such as the U.S. Convince me otherwise.
Strong bank privacy rules allow tax evasion to run rampant. Convince me otherwise.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Chasing Rolex fakers is a waste of time. It’s like bothering with fake autographs from sports stars: It’s your own damn fault for making something I can get in a cereal box cost so damn much/caring about ink on a ball.
Bottled water is the biggest scam since overpriced watches and signed sports memorabilia. Fuck them.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Upshot from our discussion thus far: fuck the Swiss agenda. Count me in. Nice place for a visit or post-money fraud bolthole, though.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Nestle is a horrible, horrible company.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Later today, MattY is going to add this to his blogroll.
P.S. In a recent post, MattY mentioned BHO’s Youtube video address, without realizing that all forms of interaction were disabled. Why? Is it that that thought didn’t even cross his mind, or that he didn’t find it necessary to note it, or that he decided that not mentioning it was best? Take the HackQuiz!
November 17th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
What’s the word on the Vatican? Do they need more guards?
November 17th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Isn’t the Land of Chocolate on the Simpsons actually Germany?
November 17th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Nestle is even more concerned about NGOs that encourage breast feeding instead of expensive baby formulas for people in poor nations. Millions of babies have died because of formula made with contaminated local water or diluted because mother’s couldn’t afford the expense once their own breast milk had dried up when they stopped breastfeeding for a while because of free formula samples. It’s like heroin — the first shot is free because then you can’t quit.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Matt, did you get to plug your book?
BTW, I saw it in Waldenbooks in the mall. I thought to myself it was funny to see a book by someone who just a few years ago was teasingly referred to as “Big Media Matt.”
November 17th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Yeah, nothing from Nestle about defending their baby-killing practices in Africa?
Boy, the Swiss get props for being neutral in a bunch of war, but judging from all of this they’re a bunch of scumbags.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Matt – While you’re out there, you should find some of the money and art they stole from you guys.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Swiss business in general doesn’t want to be forced into the EU’s tax harmonization scheme.
Interesting, but why is it even a concern?
Swiss private bankers want to maintain strong bank privacy rules.
Well duh! And thieves would like to lessen the number of police officers. But the rest of the world would like its tax money back.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Matt’s in the pocket of Big Edelweiss.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Keep this up and the Swiss-American Foundation is going to be asking Matt for their money back.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Nestle doesn’t want people to give bottled water a hard time
So I guess Nestle managed to block a good Swiss company like Sigg from participating, huh?
November 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
If you can’t take their money, eat their chocolate, drink their bottled water, and then log on the next day and blog against them, you don’t belong at Think Progress.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Nestle, in the form of Poland Springs, is stealing and bottling western Maine’s water on an industrial scale. So they can go fuck themselves.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
The original Simpsons “Land of Chocolate” video can be seen at http://www.videofantastica.com/view_video/12720/. In the magic land of chocolate Homer is ecstatic to find that he can buy it for half price.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Edelweiss is a (faux) Austrian obsession…the Swiss have some in their mountains, but are not into it.
Given UBS’s miserable performance in mortgage bonds etc., not to mention their little disagreements with the IRS for helping some wealthy Americans a little too much, the Swiss banking sector might want to get off its high horse about the eternal values of secret accounts — though in truth, Swiss bank confidentiality is less a matter of numbered accounts and secret sites than it is of systematic and politically backed reluctance to help out in fraud investigations. The Swiss government has gotten much more reasonable about this over the last few decades. Also, there’s a little irony in bold defenders of privacy making fun of those who, well, defend privacy. It’s not quite as simple as some would make out, though the tax fraud issue is obviously huge.
And Adam Villani, above, does seem to be tarring with a pretty broad brush. Several Swiss companies have (sometimes nefarious, and certainly self-serving) agendas. This makes all of “the Swiss” scumbags? How about all Americans, then?
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