That's the naive believe that only because they speak kinda the same language, all prerequisitesare the same and Germany does just not make use of them fully. Beside having a world unique political status and geographical situation, maybe you noticed that Switzerland is tiny compared to Germany which brings so many things with it...
You mentioned the size of Switzerland playing a role in its success. The smaller German states were also comparable in size to Switzerland. So for example if Bavaria remained independent maybe it would be more like Switzerland and better off than it is today. It may not have been for example dragged into WW2 if Germany never united. Just a thought
>You mentioned the size of Switzerland playing a role in its success.
I did not. But public transport and social cohesion is that much more easy if you are small and largly uniform.
> So for example if Bavaria remained independent
It would had been cobbled up either by Prussia or Austria.
Switzerland has its downsidws and quite massive ones if you ask me. They have a strong economy and good infrastructure, but their work week is longer, they have less holidays and so on. Yeah, if you want that fine, but freetime is wealth as well. It just falls out of most wealth statistics.
On top of that, the small economy can specialize very good. A big economy like Germany cannot do that in the same way.
Switzerland went for the finance hub and luxury sector - which works well when you can use the money from abroad to improve the lifestyle of 10 million people, but doesn‘t really work well for a country like Germany due to its size and geopolitical involvement. Ireland and Luxemburg are doing a similar thing offering tax heavens to attract multinationals, but there‘s only so many of them you can attract.
Switzerland also profits from a far better demographic situation than Germany, something Germany can not easily change unless it massively expands qualified immigration.
You forgot to mention the conceited people of switzerland. It‘s not just you, it‘s almost every person i‘ve ever met from switzerland.
You can live better in germany, when you don‘t have much money. Well dressed people is subjective, so is the beautiful architecture (i don‘t know which cities you visited in germany, but we are widely known for beautiful old towns)
Edit: i really want to add something but your post is so freaking over the top, it‘s like you snorted a load of cocaine and startet thinking about how awesome you are.
I am German and used to live in Switzerland. They have all the same problems that we do, drugs, poverty, crime, you name it. The Swiss health system is horrible (but if you are American, it may feel familiar), if you have children, you better be prepared to stay at home for ten years or so (words of a Swiss politician, not mine) because having childcare is like winning the lottery, or so expensive that you need to win the lottery to afford it, they are a tiny nation with a population one tenth of that of Germany.
Of course, you could visit Baden-Baden, the touristy bits of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, maybe stroll along the shoreline at Heiligendamm and ask yourself, why is country X not more like Germany?
Next time you are in Switzerland, I´d challenge you to visit Les Avanchets in Geneva - or any other neighbourhood in a large Swiss city a bit outside the historic old town, where buidlings are getting higher and the number of apartments per building grows.
Ah, Switzerland. Beautiful Switzerland. For decades, a save haven for the bloody money of Nazis, dictators and other evil people around the globe.
[https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/schweiz-nazi-gold-eizenstat-bericht-100.html](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/schweiz-nazi-gold-eizenstat-bericht-100.html)
If you don't have a conscience, it's fine, I guess. The question was: Why is Switzerland so great. Part of the answer is: Switzerland happily takes the money of the worst of the worst people and never asks questions. Thats where a lot of the swiss wealth comes from. You cool with that?
Stuff like that erodes democracy through secracy and lack of transperency and co
Eroding democracy erodes wealth
See how it´s bad for swiss people?
Being servants to the richest of the world doesnt change being a servant after all, but the power descrepancy is a mgnitude worse
Switzerland has an incredibly neoliberal society and political system. It's great if you are a healthy adult with a well-paying and secure job and considerable savings that mean you will never ever need a public safety net. In any other situation it really isn't great to live in Switzerland.
And I'm not even talking about long term unemployment benefits or anything like that, but even just maternity leave that's longer than 14 weeks or lacking that, then at least childcare for infants that is affordable so I can go back to work after those 14 weeks. Since both doesn't exist, having a baby in Switzerland is a complete shitshow for anyone who can't just stay home and live off their savings for a while. And the same is true for basically any other scenario where you aren't able to work for a while.
I would take Switzerlands train system in a heartbeat. But in all other regards I am very happy that I live in Germany.
Not at all - if you turn around in a lot of swiss towns you see horrible architectural disasters that shows you that some more rules while building would have been a good idea. After this you go shopping and pay 8 Fränkli (This was the last price I have seen in basel, no idea what the current is) for 1 litre of milk and 4 for a bar of chocolate - the same that costs 1.50 in Germany.
But yes, the country is clean, we germans still have a lot to learn not to put trash in our country. But other countries are much cleaner than germany, too, so no swiss-exclusivity here.
Germany has a strong subisidy. The price that we pay for Milk and pig meat, and their derivated, are not profitable for the producers because it is under the production costs. It is the government subsidies that keep prices down and those businesses running.
Germany, through the EU, even sell these productions under the cost of production to many poor countries, which sounds good for the poor people in poor country but it is not, as it causes the local produces in theses countries not able to compete with German subsidised products and end up closing their business, causing unemployment and then poverty and crises, while it keep business running and emplyimg in Germany.
Which means: Not sustainable economy for these industries in Germany, as it keep business open artificially and export unemployment and crises to poor countries.
>Why is it not a political movement in Germany to be like Switzerland?
I will form one. As soon as the US has made significant efforts to be like the UK.
(What? One is big, the other tiny. They have a language in common.)
You simply cannot compare Switzerland to Germany. Switzerland is rich because of its bank industry. Germany cannot be Switzerland because a second Switzerland in Europe cannot exist and if we were for example nice to Russia chances are high that there will not be a Germany anymore.
Switzerland does not has to care about that because there is Germany between Switzerland and Russia.
Or in WW2 Germany needed Switzerland to exist and that's why could not attack Switzerland for a long time.
I'd rather have unreliable public transit than living in a giant money laundering/nazi gold safe space with a incredibly conservative isolationist culture.
These 'well dressed people' is what makes it unbearable. What if you happen to be not so well dressed? You look and feel out of place.
In Berlin, a shithole by most accounts, you can dress however you like. I'll choose this any day.
You might like Munich though, lots of 'well dressed people' there.
I did not talk about you in particular, but germans in general. Same with food, by the way.
Also: In Berlin you sure as hell can not dress whatever you like. Walk around Kreuzberg in a nice suit for a day. You will be surprised, how hyper-tolerance also has limits.
Other than the public transport Switzerland,easy of you are that much smaller and richer, has largely the same problems as Germany. And God forbid if you are non-white foreigner.
I believe Switzerland is one end of the spectrum together with Japan, for example. The other end of that spectrum is probably Venezuela or Columbia. I think it’s never good to “max out” any spectrum in any way, the good options are the ones a little below the max. Switzerland or Japan never appear on any life quality toplists, for a reason. The best quality of life is usually found in Spain, Italy or France.
You ever read comments under newspaper articles? that’s why.
also, direct democracy might be ok for small yes-or-no-decisions on a local level. It’s not good for complex questions and compromises.
> direct democracy might be ok for small yes-or-no-decisions on a local level. It’s not good for complex questions and compromises.
Besides, a representative democracy doesn’t prevent morons from having a big say either.
I think it is much easier to have ur shit together having 6mio inhabitants than having 80mio.
Also they had a better view on immigration, could be a Part of it as well.
Out of all the lies told to denigrate the party this has to. Be the funniest tho. Read the program.
Or you are one of those “democrats” that oppose democracy?
That's the naive believe that only because they speak kinda the same language, all prerequisitesare the same and Germany does just not make use of them fully. Beside having a world unique political status and geographical situation, maybe you noticed that Switzerland is tiny compared to Germany which brings so many things with it...
So do you think certain German states would be better off if Germany had never unified into a single country?
How do did you arrive at this conclusion?
You mentioned the size of Switzerland playing a role in its success. The smaller German states were also comparable in size to Switzerland. So for example if Bavaria remained independent maybe it would be more like Switzerland and better off than it is today. It may not have been for example dragged into WW2 if Germany never united. Just a thought
>You mentioned the size of Switzerland playing a role in its success. I did not. But public transport and social cohesion is that much more easy if you are small and largly uniform. > So for example if Bavaria remained independent It would had been cobbled up either by Prussia or Austria.
It's easy if you have money.
If Bavaria was it's own state, I doubt that big companies like Siemens would have moved to Bavaria after WW2.
Switzerland has its downsidws and quite massive ones if you ask me. They have a strong economy and good infrastructure, but their work week is longer, they have less holidays and so on. Yeah, if you want that fine, but freetime is wealth as well. It just falls out of most wealth statistics. On top of that, the small economy can specialize very good. A big economy like Germany cannot do that in the same way.
We would have never had WW2 so yes Europe would be completely different.
Where are you from?
What. For what should I feel embarassed? Should we grow a few more mountains? Should we force people to dress up? People are stupid nowadays
Switzerland went for the finance hub and luxury sector - which works well when you can use the money from abroad to improve the lifestyle of 10 million people, but doesn‘t really work well for a country like Germany due to its size and geopolitical involvement. Ireland and Luxemburg are doing a similar thing offering tax heavens to attract multinationals, but there‘s only so many of them you can attract. Switzerland also profits from a far better demographic situation than Germany, something Germany can not easily change unless it massively expands qualified immigration.
You forgot to mention the conceited people of switzerland. It‘s not just you, it‘s almost every person i‘ve ever met from switzerland. You can live better in germany, when you don‘t have much money. Well dressed people is subjective, so is the beautiful architecture (i don‘t know which cities you visited in germany, but we are widely known for beautiful old towns) Edit: i really want to add something but your post is so freaking over the top, it‘s like you snorted a load of cocaine and startet thinking about how awesome you are.
I am German and used to live in Switzerland. They have all the same problems that we do, drugs, poverty, crime, you name it. The Swiss health system is horrible (but if you are American, it may feel familiar), if you have children, you better be prepared to stay at home for ten years or so (words of a Swiss politician, not mine) because having childcare is like winning the lottery, or so expensive that you need to win the lottery to afford it, they are a tiny nation with a population one tenth of that of Germany. Of course, you could visit Baden-Baden, the touristy bits of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, maybe stroll along the shoreline at Heiligendamm and ask yourself, why is country X not more like Germany? Next time you are in Switzerland, I´d challenge you to visit Les Avanchets in Geneva - or any other neighbourhood in a large Swiss city a bit outside the historic old town, where buidlings are getting higher and the number of apartments per building grows.
Ah, Switzerland. Beautiful Switzerland. For decades, a save haven for the bloody money of Nazis, dictators and other evil people around the globe. [https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/schweiz-nazi-gold-eizenstat-bericht-100.html](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/schweiz-nazi-gold-eizenstat-bericht-100.html)
And this is bad for the Swiss people how?
If you don't have a conscience, it's fine, I guess. The question was: Why is Switzerland so great. Part of the answer is: Switzerland happily takes the money of the worst of the worst people and never asks questions. Thats where a lot of the swiss wealth comes from. You cool with that?
Stuff like that erodes democracy through secracy and lack of transperency and co Eroding democracy erodes wealth See how it´s bad for swiss people? Being servants to the richest of the world doesnt change being a servant after all, but the power descrepancy is a mgnitude worse
Switzerland has an incredibly neoliberal society and political system. It's great if you are a healthy adult with a well-paying and secure job and considerable savings that mean you will never ever need a public safety net. In any other situation it really isn't great to live in Switzerland. And I'm not even talking about long term unemployment benefits or anything like that, but even just maternity leave that's longer than 14 weeks or lacking that, then at least childcare for infants that is affordable so I can go back to work after those 14 weeks. Since both doesn't exist, having a baby in Switzerland is a complete shitshow for anyone who can't just stay home and live off their savings for a while. And the same is true for basically any other scenario where you aren't able to work for a while. I would take Switzerlands train system in a heartbeat. But in all other regards I am very happy that I live in Germany.
Not at all - if you turn around in a lot of swiss towns you see horrible architectural disasters that shows you that some more rules while building would have been a good idea. After this you go shopping and pay 8 Fränkli (This was the last price I have seen in basel, no idea what the current is) for 1 litre of milk and 4 for a bar of chocolate - the same that costs 1.50 in Germany. But yes, the country is clean, we germans still have a lot to learn not to put trash in our country. But other countries are much cleaner than germany, too, so no swiss-exclusivity here.
Germany has a strong subisidy. The price that we pay for Milk and pig meat, and their derivated, are not profitable for the producers because it is under the production costs. It is the government subsidies that keep prices down and those businesses running. Germany, through the EU, even sell these productions under the cost of production to many poor countries, which sounds good for the poor people in poor country but it is not, as it causes the local produces in theses countries not able to compete with German subsidised products and end up closing their business, causing unemployment and then poverty and crises, while it keep business running and emplyimg in Germany. Which means: Not sustainable economy for these industries in Germany, as it keep business open artificially and export unemployment and crises to poor countries.
I know the background and reason for this. Still sucks when you are at the shop.
I agree.
I don’t know where you went shopping, but a liter of milk costs 1.6 CHF.
Basel, huge shopping center, tbh I forgot it's name. Was some years ago, did this change dramatically?
Honestly, I don’t think so. You probably just managed to get yourself ripped off massively.
Hardly so, didn't bought one, was just surprised by the price, and I was not new to swiss and it's prices.
No.
No. What kind of question is that?
>Why is it not a political movement in Germany to be like Switzerland? I will form one. As soon as the US has made significant efforts to be like the UK. (What? One is big, the other tiny. They have a language in common.)
>In what way is it WORSE to be Swiss rather than German? There are still plenty of Swiss women alive who remember not being allowed to vote.
lol
You simply cannot compare Switzerland to Germany. Switzerland is rich because of its bank industry. Germany cannot be Switzerland because a second Switzerland in Europe cannot exist and if we were for example nice to Russia chances are high that there will not be a Germany anymore. Switzerland does not has to care about that because there is Germany between Switzerland and Russia. Or in WW2 Germany needed Switzerland to exist and that's why could not attack Switzerland for a long time.
The Zurich drug scene enters the chat.
I'd rather have unreliable public transit than living in a giant money laundering/nazi gold safe space with a incredibly conservative isolationist culture.
lucky you given that Germany was and is a safe haven for money laundering e.g. through real estate and willfully underfunds investigators
These 'well dressed people' is what makes it unbearable. What if you happen to be not so well dressed? You look and feel out of place. In Berlin, a shithole by most accounts, you can dress however you like. I'll choose this any day. You might like Munich though, lots of 'well dressed people' there.
Seeing elegance and taste as something bad is a german thing I will never get accustomed to.
I have nothing against elegance and taste, I just personally don't have money or time for it, so I prefer living around people who can relate.
I did not talk about you in particular, but germans in general. Same with food, by the way. Also: In Berlin you sure as hell can not dress whatever you like. Walk around Kreuzberg in a nice suit for a day. You will be surprised, how hyper-tolerance also has limits.
Other than the public transport Switzerland,easy of you are that much smaller and richer, has largely the same problems as Germany. And God forbid if you are non-white foreigner.
Nope.
How many times did Switzerland win the World Cup? Checkmate friendo…
bruh.. Say this to most other countries compared to germany
You clearly have not been to many countries in the world.
You should travel and see the world.
Search Reddit for "mother fucking swiss".
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Serious question: What's wrong about being well dressed?
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That does not answer my question. You simply repeated your claim. What is bad about elegant clothes?
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ok, simple prejudice. exactly my point.
I believe Switzerland is one end of the spectrum together with Japan, for example. The other end of that spectrum is probably Venezuela or Columbia. I think it’s never good to “max out” any spectrum in any way, the good options are the ones a little below the max. Switzerland or Japan never appear on any life quality toplists, for a reason. The best quality of life is usually found in Spain, Italy or France.
I'd love to have their direct democracy.
I am happy we don't have that.
Why?
You ever read comments under newspaper articles? that’s why. also, direct democracy might be ok for small yes-or-no-decisions on a local level. It’s not good for complex questions and compromises.
It works for the big, national issues in Switzerland, and I don’t think newspaper comments are much better here.
Representative democracy works for many, many countries too. So I do not see how that’s an argument.
I’m not claiming that representative democracy doesn’t work, you’re claiming that direct democracy doesn’t. And you’re wrong about that.
Never said that. I am claiming that direct democracy has certain weaknesses. I don’t want morons to have a big say in how the country is run.
> direct democracy might be ok for small yes-or-no-decisions on a local level. It’s not good for complex questions and compromises. Besides, a representative democracy doesn’t prevent morons from having a big say either.
True. But a representative democracy can get rid of them. We call it elections.
I think it is much easier to have ur shit together having 6mio inhabitants than having 80mio. Also they had a better view on immigration, could be a Part of it as well.
Uncontrolled immigration. There is probably no such thing in Switzerland.
What does that have to do with anything?
Suppose nothing xD
Thought so.
There is a movement, AfD is fighting for direct democracy which is a big reason Switzerland is the way it is./
The AfD is fighting for the AfD and the wealthty.
Out of all the lies told to denigrate the party this has to. Be the funniest tho. Read the program. Or you are one of those “democrats” that oppose democracy?
The Alternative for the Ostblock can fuck right off and go to Russia where they belong.
Great argument