Why is SWITZERLAND so RICH? - VisualPolitik EN

often people think that Switzerland wealth comes only because of their status as a fiscal Haven so think about it there are other countries like Panama Cyprus the Republic of Liberia these are fiscal Athens - don't forget Africa not only offers low taxes to international companies but it's also offers them capacity refills these countries remain low income countries while Switzerland remains one of the wealthiest countries in the world and all this comes with them having no natural resources not compromising on democracy or stupid right if I Switzerland have one of the most egalitarian political systems in the world and its welfare system is as good as that of Norway Denmark additionally their citizen is nothing we have the right to vote every four years but every four months the Swiss don't just choose their leaders that they choose their policies with referendums happening several times a year Switzerland has one of the world's best political systems and we believe that this is the reason that they are successful in fact we think that the Swift system should be a model for other countries and in this video we're going to tell you why with some number1 decentralization from a practical point of view Switzerland is what is known as a confederation in fact it's the only Confederation that exists on the planet it is made up of 26 states which are called Canton the only thing that these Kansans have in common are a constitution foreign policy and the currency aside from that they are totally different from one another let's look at an example let's say you make a salary of six thousand Swiss francs and you live in the region of Jura in that case you're going to pay income tax of 14% but if you made the same amount of money and you live in the region of the zhuge your income tax is only going to be 4% [Music] let's look at a different example if you have a shop in Geneva then you're going to have to close your shop at 6 p.m. but if you own a shop in Zurich you're free to keep your shop open for as many hours and you want because of the system candles can adjust their laws Sakuni era teas of each individual territory and what is even more important than this is that they can compete with each other this explains why in general the councils have such low taxation but our story doesn't end here Switzerland is so decentralized that they have four official languages German French Italian and Romansh this means that if you have to go to Geneva which is a french-speaking part you're not going to hear anyone speaking German the billboards the road signs the local newspapers everything is in French the same goes for Zurich with German or Lugano with Italian number two Switzerland has no president every country has a head of government who is responsible for certain things right well no not Whitmer but don't get me wrong they're not division Anarchy or anything this is what they do they vote for a Federal Parliament which is similar to Congress in the United States of America this Parliament then chooses seven people who are going to become something like ministers or secretaries all of these people have the same amount of power each year one of them takes a turn becoming Switzerland international representative technically this person uses the president of Switzerland but they have no specific powers over the other six people and as I said they rotate this person every year this is an important difference in the twist mentality because in other countries the president is mean really powerful fascist but in Switzerland it's just a symbolic thing because all of the decision-making is done by a team number three they erect democracy this is the most important part of Swiss politics and back of vengeance in fact most of their laws are chosen by a popular vote some at the federal level some of the cantonal level the proposal for a referendum only requires 50,000 signatures while one that's it's going to amend the Constitution requires 100,000 now don't get me wrong other countries do allow their populations to have referendums for example in Spain this is totally possible but a referendum proposal requires 500,000 signatures and they can't do any referendums that will change the constitution because of this system Switzerland holds several referendums every single year every four months this way go to the polling station and they will vote on any proposals that have been put forward in the previous four months now let's look at an example of one of these referendums from the Year 2015 they had to choose whether they wanted to create a basic income for every Swiss citizens they said no by the way they also had to decide on some amendments to the assisted reproduction Act and the also at devotions and laws related to public transport interestingly these poles often have a really big turnout 60% of Swiss people for this 2015 referendum went to the polls number for free-market some of you might think that it's very easy for a populist anti-capitalist leader to emerge in a system like this but make no mistake Switzerland is to the free market like France is to its wine don't forget this country is isolated in the mountains and has practically no farming map this means that it has to find free trade agreements with pretty much every country on Earth but hold on my dear libertarian friends who are watching this video hold on for just one second yes it is true that Switzerland is a commerce loving nation but no more so than the European Union this is a twist actually subsidized their agriculture as much as the European or the Americans do and they also participate in the same trade embargoes that exists with Iran and Russia the only differences that Switzerland has embraced free trade since 1874 while the rest of the world has only been doing it for the last few decades and now there is another very important difference about Switzerland that we must get into and it's probably one that you've heard recent number five recent neutrality Switzerland is one of these few neutral countries in the world this means that they won't participate in any armed conflict they even stayed out of world war two despite the fact that most of the population was against Hitler thanks to this Switzerland has never been reconstructed while the rest of Europe ripped itself apart killing millions and then spending billions in reconstruction Switzerland dinners and they used all of those savings to improve their system as we all know the number one enemy of economic program is war or that Switzerland does have a military the thing is this army is entirely defensive and they will only use it to propel external attacks they will never use it to fight in anything outside of self-defense and this is where we see one of the few drawbacks of the Swiss system then military or should we say their militia every Swiss citizen must view military service from the age of eighteen to the age of thirty spending one month every single year serving in the military and even after that service period they must still keep a Janus home of course Switzerland isn't the only country that does this with Norway and Israel also having mandatory military service [Music] plenty of people argue that this system is good with pundits saying that it creates more entrepreneurs and creates less income despairity don't forget that during their time in the military is a rich and the poor are mixing together several startups and companies have been created from relationships that were formed while people were serving in the military but the big question is what about Liberty what about the freedom to choose what gives the government the right to force you to work in a place that you might not want to work of course we don't have the answers to these questions that they are just something for you to ponder twisting number six ease of doing business finally there is perhaps the most well-known thing about Switzerland and that is they're active it's true despite the differences from one candle to another Switzerland though typically has very low taxation further the laws first off company are fairly simple and anyone can see those laws by just going online Switzerland is one of the most transparent countries in the world this has encouraged a lot of international companies to establish their fiscal residence in Switzerland but it also makes it very easy for people in Switzerland to set up their own company and yes ok-okay banks do make up a large part of the Swiss economy but it's probably not as big as you there are many many other industries in Switzerland does the name logitech mean anything to you well and look at your mouth look at your webcam you'll probably see it printed on one of those things and this is a company that was formed in Switzerland and then there's a pharmaceutical so the names Novartis or hoffman-laroche ring any bells not to mention of course tourism precision machinery and their famous watches I'm pretty sure you could mean five companies that are from Switzerland of simplifying meanings and expensive watch brands and all of this is being done in a country with a population that is smaller than New York City as we always their visual politic it is not the country's natural resources and it is not luck but determine whether they are successful it's their system of government and their institutions Vasudha and we believe that the Swiss have a lot to teach the rest of the world in this regard so that is just our opinion do you agree with us do you disagree with us do you things that your country could benefit from a system more like the Swiss let me know what you think in the comments below and don't forget that we upload brand new videos every Monday every Thursday so you click that subscribe button and if you would like to dig deeper on this topic and find out more about the Twitter system I will put some links in the description below and if you like this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up below and [Music]

Channel: VisualPolitik EN

Views: 1,533,009

Rating: 4.7138557 out of 5

Keywords: visualpolitik, simon whistler, switzerland, wealth, rich, fiscal havens, tax havens, decentralization, confederation, helvetic, zurich, cantons, geneva, direct democracy, free market, swiss, neutrality, hitler, world war, business, logitech, novartis, hoffmann la roche

Id: dSLs5G4SPP4

Length: 10min 44sec (644 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 23 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Euphoric_Kangaroo]

it helps when your country is the money laundering capital of the world :)

[u/bunnyears666]

Sounds too good. What are the downsides

[u/Astark]

I thought their wealth came from stolen Nazi loot and numbered bank accounts?

[u/myles_cassidy]

And Switzerland didn't guarantee the right for women to vote until 1971 and have an average turnout of 55% for this direct democracy.

[u/Teddyrevolter-360]

Ahh Switzerland is leaching off rest of world. Money laundering bastards

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/stevethered2]

The trouble is that their direct democracy can vote to deny basic rights to large portions of the population.

Swiss women could not vote in federal elections before 1971.

Imagine that situation in the US South where only whites had the vote.

[u/screenwriterjohn]

Also no immigrants.

Socialism works if everyone works.

[u/Tballz9]

Switzerland's banking/finance sector accounts for 12 percent of the GDP of the country. Switzerland follows the banking regulations of the European Union and the US FACTA IRS reporting. There are no longer black accounts in Switzerland (or at least no more than any other country in Europe), although certainly there were at one time. Numbered bank accounts without owner information do not exist.

Switzerland was an industrial power by the early 1900's and took vast amounts of gold from the Nazi regime and the Allied powers during the war. Some was for war materials, some just in exchange for Swiss currency that could be used on the international markets to break financial blockades. For certain this enabled Germany's war efforts (and to a lesser extent the allies who also sold a ton of gold to the Swiss). Much of this Nazi gold came from plundered foreign national banks, but some also came from concentration camp victims. The amount from concentration camps is likely a tiny fraction of that stolen from national banks, but it is certainly a fair argument that any amount from such a source is too much. It isn't clear how much people knew about the camp part during the war, certainly some did, some didn't, but it isn't exactly realistic to paint Swiss as Nazis. My grandfather smuggled Jewish families across the Rhine into Basel land so they could get refugee documents. Anyway, Switzerland paid war reparations of 250M USD at the end of WW2 to settle the issue on the 1,7 billion in gold that was taken from the Germans during the war. Much later in 1998 Swiss banks paid a 1,25 billion dollar settlement to Jewish families and organisations to those who had Swiss accounts prior to the war and were sub sequently murdered by the Germans, with their assets kept by the banks (in a particularly slimy move by the banks, in my opinion). The Swiss central bank had previously reached an agreement where 300 million dollars was paid to a humanitarian fund.

I just like to toss this out there, as it is all public record, but everyone on the internet suddenly jumps to NAZI GOLD ZOMG when Switzerland comes up in a conversation. Yes, we took their gold in trade for currency, it was wrong but it isn't clear how much choice we really had, we paid a settlement and reparations. Plenty of other countries in Europe aided the Nazis, some as active allies, some creating puppet states, some allowing free transit, some supplying intelligence, some helping turn in Jews for extermination, and so on. Yet, the Swiss are always painted as the worst. I think we have accepted out part in the national shame of banking for an evil regime, and reached settlements on the issue. At least as best a settlement as one can reach before some sort of final judgement if one believes in such things. Many European states suddenly had no Nazi sympathisers (and forgot all abut their pro Nazi puppet governments) once the Allies landed in Normandy, and refuse to accept their part in the past.

Oh, and for the record, Switzerland isn't a socialist utopia. We have private health insurance with a mandate to buy it, and it is very expensive. I pay 1200 USD for a family of four for basic coverage. I think people confuse us with Sweden when it comes to democratic socialism.

Also, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, direct democracy works OK here, but it is slow and conservative and creates bad situations like slow action on women's suffrage and gay rights.