Swiss View of America

Last night, I had a passenger from Zermat, Switzerland. He was a well-educated man, who keeps up-to-date on world events. (He also used to be a skiing buddy of Roger Moore.)

According to him, the Swiss are very conservative. Looking at American politics, they tend to favor Republicans on economic matters; but favor Democrats on foreign policy.

The Swiss regarded George W. Bush as a big embarrassment. They did not like his arrogance; they hated his Iraq war policy.

My passenger stated that the United States accounts for 48% of the military spending in the entire world. He said that it's a joke that the US still has military bases in Germany, when the cold war had ended long ago. But the German people love it, because they're getting money from the United States. He said that the US is bankrupting itself via all the wars it is fighting.

In Switzerland, everybody has health insurance -- but the people pay the same rate regardless of age. Whereas here in the United States under ObamaCare, older people forced to buy insurance where they're forced to pay 3x higher rates (and possibly 5x higher rates if the insurance cartel succeeds in their lobbying.) My passenger said that Obama (and his corporate allies) want to milk as much money out of the older people as possible.

He said that in Switzerland, every household has a stockpile of guns and weapons. Young men are compelled to do 3 weeks military training per year, in the militia. There are hardly any full-time militia personnel (primarily officers) -- nearly everyone are the 3 week part-timers. It's all for domestic defense. (Switzerland does not have long-standing armies for foreign conflict.)

My passenger said that very few Swiss emigrate out of the country. They stay in Switzerland because of the job security and the high pay. Every Swiss worker gets 5 weeks vacation per year. (For young men, it is 8 weeks "vacation" because of the extra 3 weeks for training in the militia.)

My passenger was astounded that New York has not invested in building underground power lines. The state is like a third-world country, re-erecting above-ground power lines over and over again. So when the next "Sandy" hits, it'll be more misery.

He said that the middle class is the driver for a prosperous economy. Without a middle class, we then become hopelessly dependent upon the rich --> "who are the cows providing us the milk." But we then kill the cows ~~> No more milk.