Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

Post by cjsthompson » Sun, Aug 02, 2015, 12:31 AM UTC

hansjorg wrote: post #370

cjsthompson wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I agree that patriarcal culture (of which veils and minarets are symbols) has nothing to do in central/northern europe. I don't care about freedom of religion, I care about being freed from religion. And it sounds like the swiss do too. So if that was suposed to make me think that democracy as opposed to parliamentary regimes is a bad thing, think again.

> that patriarcal culture Funny. Do you know anything at all about Switzerland? (hint: it's a very patriarchal society)

Post by hollerith » Sun, Aug 02, 2015, 1:04 AM UTC

mike_hearn wrote: post #165

Sfi81 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well you have to remember that the Swiss have both better income sources (assisting the world's wealthy & many corporations evade/optimize taxes for instance) and don't have military expenses and such due to neutrality. While many problems of the US are of its own creation due to either ideology or wealth dominating politics (healthcare & education spring to mind), it is quite unfair to compare what the Swiss governm…

It's a common meme. The entire financial industry is only about 11% of the GDP (or around 7% if you use a different statistical method). That includes insurance, pensions, etc. The idea that Switzerland is propped up by tax evasion simply isn't true. The UK thought it was true and actually wrote proceeds from better Swiss cooperation over banking records into their budget .... then discovered there was a huge shortfa…

Post by sltkr » Sun, Aug 02, 2015, 1:28 AM UTC

alexashka wrote: post #43

"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 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-mill…

Post by jleyank » Sun, Aug 02, 2015, 1:35 AM UTC

toephu2 wrote: post #270

adwf wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one of the most pernicious things about the US tax system though. Because citizens get taxed by both the USA and the country they're in, it strongly disincentivises people from ever moving abroad (unless they revoke their US citizenship). This leads to Americans never really discovering, en masse, what life in foreign countries can be like. They're just tourist destinations.

not totally true, you are not taxed up to 100k while working abroad. see "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion".

Post by vacri » Sun, Aug 02, 2015, 1:46 AM UTC

geff82 wrote: post #350

vorg wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Switzerland one of the few countries with a higher proportion of adults having guns than the US ?

It is, because they get them after serving mandatory time in the military. So more or less every swiss man has a military grade weapon at home. Only in newer times the ammunition is stored in special houses in each community. Before, they had their ammo at home.