Land of ‘Milking Your Money’

Switzerland is known for topping the ranks in every single measure by country. Whether it relates to free expression, salaries, happiness, exercise, travel or privacy rights, civility & trust or wealth, Switzerland finds a way to come out at the top. If anybody wants to say something is great, safe and neutral in their home country they even say it’s the “Switzerland of…”. Plus who doesn’t love chocolate!?

However, with all that structure and sophistication–there are people who overdo it.

I wanted to write an account of some stories I have been told by friends and whatI’ve come across on the internet in forums and news.

Before I do:

Strict Swiss

I have a friend who overtook a cyclist on an empty straight road and in doing so he put his left wheel on the white middle line (it was an empty road, no oncoming cars, plenty of visibility). The following car called the police on him, he was stopped and screamed at and questioned like a criminal. They just believed the word of the Swiss citizen behind him upon having no evidence. The police did not allow him a chance to speak for himself. In Switzerland, they expect you to drive at 10km/h behind the bicycle for the whole empty straight & under no circumstance could that white line be crossed… the end result was an expensive fine (it’s Switzerland!) and a banning next time.  

While unlikely, in Switzerland you can lose your license by being drunk on your sofa…

While Switzerland is often characterized as the home of people through it’s direct democracy and officials who adhere to the rules to the bitter end, sometimes a story comes along that places that image into sharp relief. Recently, an American expat in Zurich is currently facing a fine from the police, after he placed a small cardboard box in a public bin.

Man in Zurich fined for cardboard box in bin

According to Nau.ch, an American resident of Zurich Oerlikon recently received a fine from the emergency services, informing him that he had “violated” the law. Confused as he had not yet learnt German, a quick scan of a translation app revealed the reason for the 120 Swiss franc fine (140 USD). “My crime was apparently that I threw a piece of cardboard in the trash at my tram stop,” he told Nau.ch.  

To make matters even more insane, It turned out that not only had the man thrown away cardboard in a general public bin, but he had also done it on the wrong day and at the wrong time!

Who Moves to Switzerland?
–People who are still asleep in Europe but want a higher salary

Pilled Up like USA

“There’s some crazy repressed people there, especially where the climate is bad.
I asked how it’s possible that they don’t go around on a killing spree like happens in the USA…the answer I was told was they’re all on happy pills” General Practitioners will gladly feed you happy pills as soon as you complain about anything remotely stressful, triggering or bothersome–in fact they have a mandate to do so.
“In 2020, the proportion of long-term antidepressant users was 69.4%, with steady increase from 2014 to 2020; about 1 in 10 have received an anti-depressant in their lifetime”.

In fact an interesting study done by Landolt et al, 2021 in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry Disorder Treatment found the current conclusions after evaluating Benzodiazepine (anxiolytic; BZ) and Z-Drug usage prescription patterns, prevalence and healthcare outcomes:

"The results revealed a remarkably high prevalence among the general Swiss population, especially in older generations. The negative consequences of heavy BZ and ZD use are a crucial public health problem, that should be addressed".

Migrants are the New Swiss Citizen

A few weeks ago a Bulgarian friend of mine chased down a North African who stole her purse in Basel, Switzerland. There was an altercation, she ripped his shirt and got the purse back, and the immigrant ran away. When the cops came they told her she’s lucky he can away because he could have pressed charges against her and she would have been convicted of assault. “What was I supposed to do?” “Follow him and call us. And never intervene if this happens to someone else, as the law is even harsher in such cases”

My friend said to me years ago that there’s more horror stories of crazy neighbours in Switzerland than anywhere else they had previously lived. They knew of a South American woman who found it extremely difficult to integrate and make friends as everybody was so reserved and strict. She later found out that there is a local joke of, “If you never called police on your neighbour you’re not fully integrated!”.

Harsh Penalties

Upon researching matters, they have a harsh punishment way of doing things (e.g. hidden speed cameras with random low speed signals in the middle of long straights, that’ll cost you huge fines). They have other laws that Sunday’s are prohibited for working (I am typing this up on a Sunday now). What’s even crazier (coming from someone who LOVES quiet) is that you’re not allowed to mow your lawn, recycle your trash or even hang your clothes on Sundays.

As I’ve already covered, driving laws with alcohol are very strict: if you are driving while having breath alcohol over 0.25mg/l or a blood alcohol level of over 0.05%. Other small rules and regulations suck the fun out of life (having to be aware of the “rules”).

No Fun; Robot Mind

Switzerland has specific laws about cycling put in place. Starting with the rules that apply to children. Those under the age of 7 cannot cycle without an adult accompanying them. Also, you need to have an insurance sticker on your bicycle at all times.

One viewer on the internet writes “it is fine really, and safe for a family, just a bit dull on the day to day routine. Maybe that’s why cocaine is at record levels there and they’re going to legalize it…One issue is that if you grow up your children there they live in a perfect bubble… and they are not used to think outside the box like in other countries, they’ll just follow the rules without questioning…”

Did you know they banned names in Switzerland? For instance common brand names like Channel, Mercedes, and others along these lines are illegal

The other issue is that if you like to own land, and not have neighbours up your ass, it’s going to be so expensive that with the same money you could buy entire neighbourhoods in other countries. My father told me when I was a teenager about 3rd generation mortgages having their origin in Switzerland.

“So it may be good for some years of your life… many I know just leave after a while. Even Americans go back as once the novelty wears off they realize they can’t own a (decent) place and are not as free at is seems on a day to day basis”

Swiss have been having it for so good for so long, they make up problems.

Tax Haven?

Switzerland is far from being a tax haven–In Switzerland, a progressive tax rate is applied and a wealth-tax, too. Receiving 10% net tax rate is a miracle. Switzerland does offer a lump sum tax–> but if you can afford to pay this in tax, the fact of the matter is there isn’t a country on the planet you cannot afford to live and there are superior places to Switzerland, especially for tax.

For instance, the former CEO of the Novartis Daniel Vasella tried to pull off a crazy convoluted tax trick against the Swiss tax investigators… saying he was residing in Monaco to avoid corporate taxation. The investigation started and you can bet they measured every single movement he took to find he was found to be guilty of evasion.

Switzerland often attracts holding companies for their great participation exemption on dividends and capital gains received BUT there is then a 35% WHT (without using double tax treaties) when you go to pay yourself. In this respect, Hungary, Cyprus, Bulgarian holding companies are far superior (AND a LOT cheaper).

It Gets Crazier

The Dog tax. The tax usually starts from 160 CHF per year. However, in some cantons, the tax depends on the size and weight of the dog (you can’t make this up). If you are traveling with your pet, you need to make sure they are vaccinated and chipped and carry their passport with you (the dogs passport!!).

Financial Changes

Up until perhaps Covid hysteria and since, Swiss has ceded a lot of control of their central banks, politicians and bank instability. Heck, the citizens VOTED for vaccine mandates and lockdowns in many Cantons.

Most notably are the changes to be on-par with the EU as a surveillance (financial) and have snapped out of neutrality once they aggressively pursued sanctions against Russia.

To add, Swiss People voted against bail outs in 2018, which was ignored in 2023, causing the Swiss people on the train tracks for systematically important bank failures (in Swiss) which is predominantly non-Swiss money (Credit Suisse was just the beginning!). In fact, it’s difficult to see how banks survive in their current form. They certainly have cut back on staff and continue to downsize. With bank secrecy no longer being an attraction, very high charges (seriously high charges), it’s difficult to square that circle on how they survive.

So taxes are rising, the Swiss CHF isn’t backed by Gold (like some people think) & current tech stock bubble is effectively keeping the Central Bank balance sheet afloat (since they turned themselves into a hedge fund basically). It’s a time bomb in paradise.

Summing Up My Findings

If you have the assets (at least $2 million or an income of $200,000 a year) you can live like a middle-class Swiss person. The advantage is that everything is on time, reliable & always works- Phones, elevators, trains, planes, wi-fi, and vending machines. It is very safe. Food is exceptionally clean & healthy. Medical/dental care is expensive but great. 

BUT

Almost Everything is twice the price vs. across the borders in Italy, France, and Austria. If you don’t respect local customs (which are hard to remember) & laws you can get into trouble with huge fines. Being drunk & disorderly can get you prison time and deportation, speeding, going through red lights, littering, and even making illegal U-turns. One has to keep a low profile or a boring life.

The administration wants to dissolve Switzerland into Ursulandia, the socialist European superstate of brokeness and wokeness. Overall, the gov definitely does not stay out of your hair any longer plus the country is no longer neutral. It is a “once was” state now

Crime?

As of March 2023,

Number of serious assaults in Switzerland higher than ever before.

Since statistics have been kept, there have never been so many serious violent crimes registered in Switzerland as last year, says Swiss Federal Statistical Office

Some 1,942 serious violent crimes were registered by the police in 2022, an increase of 16.6% and the highest number since the statistics were introduced in 2009, it noted.

The number of rapes rose by 14.5% to 867 cases, while 762 aggravated assaults were registered, up 17.2% from the previous year, the office said.

Oh I forgot to say that those very picky rules only apply to Europeans, not to 3rd-worlders.

“You either go crazy or have to opt for a lobotomy just to function in the extremely strict society and with crime increasing it's even less pleasant“

Crime Won’t Slow; It’s Open Borders

Approximately 32% of the permanent population 15 and older was foreign born as of 2022, with 40 percent of the permanent population (around 3 million people) have a foreign background as either immigrants or the Swiss-born children of immigrants. By these relative metrics, Switzerland’s immigrant population is significantly larger than that of most other European countries. Most of these immigrants come from France, Romania, Spain, etc. but there is a growing flow of migrants from the Global South.

Numerous headlines now acknowledge that Switzerland is a country of immigrants and migrants but it fails to distinguish anything here. A very poor violent person from Senegal is treated as equal as a Frenchman who grew up 30 minutes from Geneva. It’s illegal (surprise..surprise..) to highlight this difference.

Closing

As I said, Switzerland is still fantastic for a lot of matters; often being the dream place of many including the ultra-rich. However, Switzerland’s increasing taxes, extreme cost of living, non-neutrality and government interventions coupled with insanely restrictive rules on citizens (but not immigrants) makes Switzerland an overrated location in my estimation (at least for those who value freedom).

Unfortunately, Switzerland is living off of its brand name, reputation and stored capital but the tide is turning against this mountainous country. I fear it’s best days are behind it and we can only expect more foolishness to come.

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