To: Members of the Thirteenth Tribe (the Law givers) and friends on several
mail lists
Hi folks,
The second opinion on using Switzerland as an example of a prosperous and
sustainable social order, which the United States and other nations might
follow, was distributed by list <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > and the
full text is copied below as requested by author and Swiss citizen, Christoph
Reuss.
I was mistaken in my previous post when I assumed that the author of the
first (negative) opinion on Swiss virtue was a Swiss citizen. It turns out
that he is a U.K. subject, who resided in Switzerland between 1980 and 1996,
as explained in his response, copied below, to Christoph Reuss' second
opinion. It seems fair to assume that our U.K. subject received both my
previous posts and Mr. Reuss' "second opinion" from mail list
<[EMAIL PROTECTED] >. WesBurt comments at the foot of this
post.
>>>>>>>>>>>> Begin second opinion by Christoph Reuss <<<<<<<<<<<<<
Subj: correcting the misinformation about Switzerland
Date: 99-10-27 19:46:19 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christoph Reuss)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 99-10-27 19:59:40 EDT (13 min)
Dear Wes Burt,
in your last posting (Subject: "Who cares?"), you have quoted an anonymous
"Swiss citizen" who replied to your earlier posting "Welcome to America III".
His claims are so utterly wrong and misleading that it's hard to take him
seriously. Anyway, for the international audience, a correction is necessary:
(I hope you give this the same wide circulation as the original piece)
"A Swiss citizen" wrote:
> Mr. Burt,
>
> I can only say you have been grievously misinformed. I should however inform
> you that as someone expelled from Switzerland
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Since no single Swiss citizen can ever be expelled from Switzerland, this
author cannot be a Swiss citizen, or he wasn't expelled. Both ways, he lied.
> you may wish to check the following
> assertions, which you will find substantiated by international statistics.
Nope. International statistics like the CIA Factbook 1998 or the databook
"Global Trends 1998" of the Development&Peace Foundation (Germany) do NOT
support his claims, quite the contrary.
> Switzerland is a poor country, unlike your own or Gabon, where manipulative
> use of statistics has made it appear rich.
The wealth may be distributed inequally -- like in Gabon and any capitalist
country too --, but it's just impossible to describe Switzerland as "a poor
country".
As for statistics, I do wonder what interest the Swiss authorities should
have to "make it appear rich". (In order to attract even more economical
refugees or what?) Does this author suggest the international data sources
have conspired with the Swiss in manipulating the economic data, or that
the CIA has uncritically copied the fudged data provided by the Swiss ?
> Most of its inhabitants live in substandard accommodation by EU standards
> (in terms of space)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In terms of space perhaps (see below), but certainly not in terms of quality.
Which "EU standards", anyway ? Some EU countries like Portugal or Greece
have rural infrastructures comparable to 3rd-world level, and in East
Germany (former GDR), thousands of Soviet-style homes are uninhabitable
by Swiss criteria, still 10 years after entering the EU. You see, the EU
doesn't give a heck about the so-called "EU standards".
> and for example in the canton of
> Geneva the owner occupancy rate is 9% -none owns their own property
The "canton of Geneva" is basically the *city* of Geneva, the second largest
city of the country. In the canton, 400'000 inhabitants live in an area of
110 square miles, of which 20 square miles are used for housing. I guess
with 20'000 people per square mile of housing, it would be pretty difficult
to give everyone her/his own detached family house ! But does that make
Geneva a poor canton ??
(Btw, since 40% of Geneva's inhabitants are foreigners, it's not too
surprising that few people *own* their housing.)
> and all are
> forced to submit to a form of common universal law, in which no human rights
> are incorporated.
Nonsense. Switzerland has one of the best human rights situations of the
world, and a great humanitarian track record -- documented by HR org's like
AI or PIOOM.
> No political dissent is tolerated.
This is just absurd. Where is the evidence, and did he compare with other
countries ? In this free country, one can even publish books full of lies
and dissent about the country, and still become/stay a State University
Professor and Member of Parliament. (example: Jean Ziegler in Geneva)
> The life expectancy is five years less than the EU norm.
According to the most recent data (1996/97), the life expectancy in
Switzerland is almost 2 years LONGER than in the EU (average):
EU: women=80.5 , men=74.1 years
CH: women=82.3 , men=76.2 years
> For hundreds of years it has operated a mercantilist
> foreign policy
For hundreds of years, most EU countries have operated an imperialist,
colonialist foreign policy, robbing out whole continents and killing/
enslaving millions of Natives. Is that better ?
> where, as in my own case, people are forced to work abroad and
> remit funds to the country.
For whom? For his starving relatives in Switzerland?? Hogwash -- it
just doesn't make sense to work in a low-wage country and spend the
money in an expensive country where the hard-earned money has less
purchasing power. Only the opposite direction makes sense, and actually,
most of the working foreigners in Switzerland are sending money to their
home countries -- that's why they came here in the first place.
> Were it a rich country, you would not see so many
> swiss abroad.
Actually, most of the few who live abroad, do live there because their
Swiss Francs have more purchasing power abroad (e.g. retired seniors
living in Spain). Or because they don't like the high population density.
You may also see "so many swiss abroad" because they have spare money to
travel around.
Were it a poor country, you would not see so many (working or asylum-seeking)
foreigners in Switzerland (about the highest rates of Europe!).
> You must understand that the trade off between material wealth
> in terms of manufactured objects and human rights is one on which you can
> choose your own point.
Actually, human rights are mistreated the worst in the materially poorest
countries. Ask AI or PIOOM, for example.
> The focus on 'things' has an enormous cost in
> human potential for freedom and communication.
IF he means the freedom to starve or to get killed (Sierra Leone?) and the
communication of talking with adjacent neighbors all day (but only with
them, because no phone/internet connection and no decent traffic means are
available), then that's right. However, if he means real freedom and real
communication, then the opposite is much closer to the truth.
> Most of the rich countries I have
> seen are in black Africa
Well, this definitely requires an extraordinary definition of "rich".
Wes, I think the above makes it clear that the anonymous author you quoted
has his "facts" completely wrong and can't be trusted.
Take care,
Christoph Reuss
(Swiss citizen)
>>>>>>>>>>> End second opinion by Christoph Reuss <<<<<<<<<<<<<
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>> Begin note from a U.K.subject, Director of a Swiss corporation <<<<
Subj: Re: correcting the misinformation about Switzerland
Date: 99-10-28 04:57:16 EDT
From: a U.K.subject
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mr Burt,
In reference to a reply below, I respond to you. I do not wish to correspond
with
Mr Reuss- we have indeed corresponded before to our mutual dissatisfaction-
or
have my name known to him as your correspondent. However you may make any use
of
the following information you wish.
I have never claimed to be a swiss citizen. I am a UK subject and by
extension,
citizen of the European Union. I was resident in Switzerland between 1980 and
1996.
The expulsion order reference for the Federal administration is
DFJP/A1-9960180,
for the 'Office Federal des Etrangers' is OFE 1 653 705, for the Geneva
authorities GE 803/98, should you wish to check with them.
The statistics I quoted came from EC and UNDP sources some years ago, which
gave
male life expectancy as 74.1 years in Switzerland and 77 in the EU. I too
looked
them up in the CIA factbook and found that counterinstances can be found, so
am
willing to concede that I may have been partially misinformed or that things
may
have changed.
Switzerland is a poor country in terms of material resources and space. I am
not
saying they haven't succesfully imported and manufactured. I am saying that
GDP
statistics do not value human rights, freedoms etc. You can ask any number of
human rights organizations this, I used to work for one at the UNHCR. I am not
saying they are the worst or even bad, by international standards. I am
talking
about the poverty of materialism, something Mr Reuss will have constitutional
problems understanding. I would not dispute with Mr Reuss that I find rich
people
uninteresting because they are (i) predictable - they are trying to stay rich
and
(ii) stupid, as that is all they do. The capitalist calculus makes robots of
us
all. People who don't do that are far more interesting, I speak as a egotist.
In terms of square feet, most swiss people live in substandard accommodation.
I do
not dispute they may have more dishwashers than the Portugese or Ethiopians.
However the Portugese and Ethiopians produce great runners and poets because
they
have space to run about and great language. This is just fact and not
specifically
a criticism of Switzerland. I would prefer to live in Tanzania or Sudan than
Monaco or Liechtenstein for the same reason, despite the fact that the latter
would be classified as rich countries and the former as poor.
The swiss code civil and code penal incorporate no human rights to my
knowledge
other than the right of creed or confession and some rights as to property and
occupation. It is jurispridence for those invoking the swiss adhesion to the
European human rights legislation within Switzerland to be imprisoned for the
duration of that process. No, I do not have the lawbook to hand, I spent time
reading it in their jail. It was on page 39 of the standard reference to the
Code
Penal.
You might not incorrectly read into Mr Reuss' own note below some of the
inherent
racism of the swiss project of 'perfection', which excludes all those who are
not
part of that project. This intolerance I cannot abide. I also believe it must
change, as it can no longer be sheltered behind the secrecy so useful in the
after-war years. The swiss had a brave project, to create a perfect world,
codified in their constitution of the last century. However, assuming it to be
perfect, they (i) got very smug (ii) believed that foreigners were inferior
(that's you by the way - did you read below?) and (iii) didn't discover that
it
would still need to change. I have no idea whether the eminent and respected
journalist and parliamentarian Mr Ziegler is a liar or not. His books seem
laregly
factual.
I stand by the other comments I made, which may be interpreted as personal
preference as you like.
You will note that the 'project' of the average 'protestant' worker in a
country
such as Switzerland is to get enough money to not have to work, to retire and
use
one's leisure time in chosen pursuits of little financial reward. Before the
western introduction of medicine in Africa, this is largely what people did,
and
probably what Mr Reuss' forebears did in their neolithic cave in Nyon.
Best regards,
a U.K.subject
>>>> End note from a U.K.subject, Director of a Swiss corporation <<<<
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>>>>>>>>>> Begin comment by WesBurt <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
In Figure 1, of my global model at URL <>, the Swiss economy is used as a
reference for plotting the economic performance of eleven nations, using data
from the World Bank ATLAS. If we consult the UN data on GNP/capita for the
post World War II half century, the USA GNP/capita in 1949 was 171% of Swiss,
and here we are on Figure 1 in 1994 at 70% of Swiss GNP/capita. Now it is
true that GNP/capita is a measure of materialism, not human rights, but
material wellbeing is the precondition of human rights in every society. If
we add to Figure 1 such hard to get data as the 1% unemployment rate and the
0% inflation rate in Switzerland and compare that to the other countries it
seem clear to me that the Swiss are doing something in their public policy,
which other nations are neglecting.
When I say "hard to get data," I notice that neither of the above authors
bothered to confirmed Ms. Jane Jacobs' figure of 1% for unemployment in
Switzerland. Should we not conclude that the establishments in the U.S.
(Labor Department), the U.K., and Switzerland find their Common Cause in
keeping the public everywhere either indifferent to, or oblivious of, the
role of the market mechanism in determining the performance of nations as
plotted on Figure !? Why should this be? What advantage is there to any
faction of any society to run their economies at 2 to 3% inflation and 4 to
10% unemployment with ever growing deficits and debt service, when there are
nations operating at 0% inflation and 1% unemployment to serve as examples?
Sincerely,
WesBurt
