Direct democracy is a very interesting tool to me. Swiss citizens seem to complain far less about politics and politicians, as in many questions, the populous gets the final say. It is often accepted as the people's will. Which may also be why there are almost no strikes and public services run quite smoothly. Many labor intense things are expensive here, but: normal workers are usually paid a decent salary, products and services tend to be of good quality and crossing the border for EU products is for many people a viable option. Thanks for not showing the boring "Switzerland is only rich because of shady banking deals"-story.
Switzerland has the GAV system (General Working Agreements). After negotiation between workers and employers they generally are then state approved. after which point, the are like labour law. that allows for flexible adaptation of labour law to fit the realities of the different industries. But it mainly ensures fair competition, as employers then can't get a unfair advantage over their competitor, by exploiting their workers. And with the economy in almost constant boom, the demand for labour is high. that gives the workers a very strong negotiation position. so no need for strikes.
There is a reason for this in the countries history. In 1918 there was a massive strike, after a series of external and internal shocks like the food shortages during WW1 or the Spanish flu. From a total population of 3.8 million people up to 250'000 went on strike in just two days. The military was set in motion to ensure inner peace, but the soldiers were not trained for peace keeping. In the town of Grenchen, a group of soldiers opend fire and killed three people. This was a turning point in Swiss history. In the aftermath of this tragedy many reforms took place, like establishing important social security systems for ensuring industrial peace or introducing strikter rules for the domestic deployment of military forces. It took years to reach consensus on certain topics and even more time for implementing new rules and regulations, in case of a state pension for retired workers on a federal level up until 1948, but nearly everyone could agree on one thing: Never again should a tragedy like this be allowed to happen again. The changes that were made then shaped parts of the reality in our everyday life today.
Well, and on the other hand (as seen in the footage) it´s not so long ago that only men were allowed to vote. And I mean: 80 years later compared to real developed democracys! And by the way: Austrias heritage tax rate is 0,0% (which I personally don´t support, but anyway). Nevertheless: Yes, yes, yes. Swiss trains are off the scale---the best.
The shady banking deals helped the Swiss have a spring board to success. Let’s not forget and deny that history. It’s not good to White-wash history that way.
One factor for Switzerlands wealth that is always overlooked is also how well cared for everything is!!! I am swiss and I have traveled to over 30 countries all over the world, and one thing that always stuck out to me even in „rich“ countries like Australia, the US or England is how swiss people keep everything spotlessly clean and well maintained at all times. We repair broken fences, patch cracks in walls, recycle everything than can be recycled, touch up paint on houses and even keep the grass edged of the roads tidy. Being mindful of what you have, taking good care and taking pride in fixing things yourself is ingrained into our brains from a very young age. So yes, we are rich, but we also don‘t waste our wealth and sqander our ressources. 🙂 👍 THAT is what helps us STAY rich.
Ändlig emol e Video über uns, wo nit numme Trivia und Vorurteil uffzellt ! I ha se zuefällig gfunde und se grad abonniert, well si das wo si verzellt au wirgglig recherchiert het ! Was me sunscht so uff RUclips umme-n-isch , isch ächt schwach ! Bi au viel ummekoo und cha Di Votum numme understütze (Swiss talked in the canton of Basel) … Finally a Video about us, which doesn’t just consist of Trivia and prejudices ! I found her by chance and subscribed immediately, because what she’s talking about is fact based and really researched ! Amazing how crappy a lot of videos about Switzerland and its people and political system are on RUclips ! Like you, I’ve been around the world, too ; and I wholly subscribe to your point of view
Another interesting particularity of Switzerland is its executive branch. The country is not ruled by a single king/president/prime minister like almost everywhere else. Instead, a federal council of 7 equal members assumes the executive power (the president position rotates every year and is purely ceremonial). Members are elected from different parties, meaning the council never really swing from left to right. And since no party or individual can control the whole council, there is no easy way to have a backsliding democracy like we see in a lot of countries these days : the only way would be for the Swiss population to elect a single party to the Federal Assembly which is quite unlikely with a fully proportional system.
Also there are no term limits and they are culturally never voted out. So they usually stay in office until they step down at different intervals. So again, this maintains stability, as at no point will more than 2 or max 3 of them be new.
@@SwissPGO Rzecz w tym, że się uczyły 2 wieki temu. Od tamtej pory i USA i Szwajcaria przeszły bardzo długą stronę i stoją przed zupełnie innymi wyzwaniami, choć jedno z nich ma taką samą nazwę: Unia Europejska. Ale nawet w tym zakresie to są zupełnie różne wyzwania.
@@robertrusiecki9033 I'm not fluent in polish, but I understood you refer to challenges with the EU. I worked in multiple EU countries, and although it is not perfect, most European nations would individually be worse off without being part of the EU. Brexit is a good example: it's not getting better in Britain since they left. Maybe time will tell. Switzerland has agreements with the EU, but I don't see it fully joining it: we swiss like our direct democracy too much for that to happen anytime soon.
The problem is that even if you look critically at Switzerland and making a doc like this, it still sounds like a promotion movie of Switzerland. Everything is true about what you have said. I left the Netherlands more then 20 years ago, also a very rich and well organized country, but Switzerland is just next level.
I am Swiss and I can tell you that yes, Switzerland is maybe rich, but not all the Swiss people. We also help a lot other countries when they need help (sold some of tha bank's gold to help Greece, sending good in Ucraine...). I am happy you feel good here
No doubt: I lived in the Swiss countryside for a couple of years and whilst we had a car for convenience, I did my daily commute by public transport: The bus passed every half hour from 6 am to 11:30 pm and took me to my train station, where I could just grab a coffee and a croissant and could spend the rail ride reading the paper (and a book on the homeward journey) - so much more pleasant than driving. Right now, living in Zurich, I don't even have a car any more.
After the first railway boom a number of private railway companies were competing on just a few railway connections leaving most of the rest of the country without any railway infrastructure at all. Accumulating too much debt even bigger companies got into serious risk of bankrupcy. As a result the federal government decided to take over most of the railway companies - partly to increase the railway network across the entire country. Switzerland benefited of that move so much that two initiatives in favour of privatising the Swiss railway company SBB-CFF-FFS have failed in national referendae despite the SBB rarely generating net profits.
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl There can be no doubt: Public infrastructure belongs in public hands. Actually, Switzerland is a great example for that: Not only the railways, the roads and other public transport, but also water and energy are in public hands and offer far better value for money than in the EU where people can freely choose their provider.
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vlWe did the exact opposite in Germany in the 90th with the expected results now. Now we don’t have any form of working railway system any more.
I would also add to the factors the excellent role of trade and crafts teaching in Switzerland: Unlike in Germany, where apprentices are often just used as cheap labour, learning a trade in Switzerland, is taken dead serious. On the other hand: Salaries for people, who learned a trade, are highly competitive against of those people with an academic background and the same applies to the social prestige associated. As a result, the workforce is highly skilled, not only with their brains, but also with their hands. Greetings from Zurich!
In the U.S. people that work in the trades are looked upon as failures. Social media personalities are looked upon as heroes. Yes, the United States is in it's death throes...
and after an apprenticeship, there are many ways to take education further... professional Matura, Fachhochschulen, Passerelle, Meisterprüfungen.... the apprenticeship system is certainly a lot more relevant to Swiss success than some very expensive schools for rich kids.
Doing a 'Stifti' or apprentiship in Switzerland is by no means a dead end either. Basically you have the practical part of work in the company that hired you and a theoretical at school for roughly 1-2 days per week. The subjects heavily depend on what you're learning and there are classes for each job. As example, i work in the field of civil engineers which is diversified into heating systems, ventilation and sanitary/gas-systems, each being their own full job. There are some shred subjects like Maths, general knowledge (mostly language classes, laws etc) and some individual ones like fresh water, waste water, gas for sanitary engineers. There's a program called 'Berufsmatura' (employment-matura?) in which you can get a degree that allows you to enter a university and continue to deepen your studies. It can be done side-by-side with the apprentiship (quite hard) or as a standalone. Nowadays many companies also seek to hire their own apprentices after their apprentiship (usually 3-4 years) comes to an end because workforce is important and in many branches actually suffer from not finding enough people able to work. That means the 'simple' workes with 'only' an apprentiship can still often discuss with university people at a similar level of understanding. For the apprentiship-people it's often the more practical part and the university ones the more theoretical aspects. Both are needed to bring a project to proper fruition, as i see day after day working on really cool projects. My current favorite being the garage for about 150 electric busses (the big ones) for an entire cities and agglomerations infrastructure. And that on a 'simple' apprentiship ;)
Ashton, I'm sure you already know, I love your fact-based, outstanding videos. I trust you and your research. But this video has a special feature that I have never seen in any other video on any other RUclips channel I came across. In the credits you publish your sources, so that anyone who doubts can check for themselves how you came to your conclusions. This level of professionalism is really impressive and takes your expertise to another level. I am surprised that this has not yet been acknowledged in any other comment. A highly appreciated little detail. I just love it.
She's trained as a scholar. I trained many students myself how to do research and selecting appropriate sources and listing (referencing) them becomes a habit of every good researcher. Good youtubers do the same.
Publication of sources, whilst laudable and an excellent example to other RUclipsrs, does not in itself guarantee the quality of the subsequent analysis. Other people could no doubt look at exactly the same sources and come up with very different conclusions. Analysis is strongly affected by the analyst's personal views, assumptions, politics, upbringing, education, home culture, and a host of other influences. For instance, this video has a strong bias towards the unquestioned assumptions that neutrality, low taxes, centre-right politics, and competition are all undoubted positives. Something that other analysts from different cultures might well disagree with. The source data is only the starting point.
@@SwissPGO I know that she is. It is a basic requirement and I think became a habit to do it on her way to getting the PhD. With my comment I just wanted to show her my appreciation for adding her used sources at the end of the video. While I've seen it on other "big company" fact based productions, I've never seen something alike on youtube, so it just struck me in a positive way.
@@paulhaynes8045Is it bias or is Switzerland just one of the examples where neutralism, capitalism, competition and relatively low taxes etc produces one of the highest standards of living the planet. The data, seems to point to fact rather than bias.
@@barryhaley7430 it's not the fact that Switzerland is rich that I'm disputing, it's the assumption that there can only be one reason for that, that it is commendable, and that it 'proves' anything. There is a great deal of prosperity in other places too - Russia, China, Singapore, etc. But I don't think the culture/politics/government of any of those places could be put forward as positive, or something to be emulated.
Though one has to say it was mainly due to a loss in trust, caused by countless bad decisions that caused its stock market value to plummet and not due to a lack in capital.. guess it proves that even heaps of money can't buy you a good sense for business..
@@cinnamoon1455 CS was already almost a meme:) - If there was a scandal in banking world you could bet that CS is in it as well. And in banking world lost of trust means lost of everything. CS was bleeding money - otherwise they wouldn't have to ask for state for loan
@@Spido68_the_spectator the problem with companies like that is that they use their subcompanies in other countries to circumvent Swiss laws. There was actually an attempt to change our laws to prevent that from happening just last year but as you can probably guess said big companies invested a lot of money to prevent that from happening and it sadly didn't pass. One way things like this are often forced upon our very conservative and lenient towards businesses majority, is when the EU adopts such laws and Switzerland is forced to follow suit. This then often forces them to accept stronger terms than the laws they fought in the vote, which I find pretty hilarious..
Your money is in a Swiss bank account. To access it, follow these instructions: 1. Become a financial account manager in a large firm. 2. Spend 10 years handling the accounts of other people's money. 3. Leave the firm and start your own. 4. Get rich having your employees handle other people's money. 5. Send me a check. You have to learn to think like a Swiss.
Those sources listed at the end was *chefs kiss* perfection. You are always specific, well informed and backed by evidence but having that final page earns so much respect in my opinion
Love taking the train from Italy to Germany, passing Switzerland. There is something magical about entering the Gotthard tunnel soaring at 180 km/h and passing by beautiful lakes and majestic mountain ranges.
There are lakes in the Gotthard tunnel? Woah, the Swiss have taken train travel to another level. Perhaps somebody came up with the idea to make tunnel running a little bit more interesting. Instead of looking at boring concrete walls they built a Swiss Miniature in there. Grandious. I have seen some simple shadow picture projections in a tunnel on the La Mure museum train near Grenoble.
Swiss trains are indeed fantastic. One train ride shaped me literally, when I was a young student traveling from Luzern to Lugano. At some time in a small station popped Italian name under the German name. The next stop, after passing some tunnel, Italian name was atop, and German on the bottom. Next station German was no more. Only Italian name was in use. Welcome to Tessin/Ticino! This seemingly so simple, so obvious was in dealing with national groups of people in the framework of one Confederation Helvetica impressed me and I believe, it should be embraced by all in Europe as an example. My favorite train ride: Bermina Express in Graubünden aka Grischun (Romansh) or Grigioni (Italian) St. Moritz to Tirano , Italy.
@@markusrothbauer5156 True, I think that was the maximum speed. But most of the time is was around 180 km/h, which is still impressive considering we're crossing the Alps!
My great-grandparents were born to rather poor farmers in Switzerland and were encouraged to emigrate to places where they could buy enough farm land. Some of the siblings (14 surviving children) went to the Netherlands, some to the USA and Canada and some to various countries in South America. In just two generations how things have changed!
Poor Swiss farmers from my canton (Fribourg) emigrated to Brazil in the early 1800s. They left because there were apparently more opportunities elsewhere, Switzerland was poor for a long time. They ended up founding a city in Brazil, called Nova Friburgo.
Almost ll the countries you say your Swiss ancestors moved to have experienced a sharp swerve to the political left in recent years or decades. In Switzerland, the conservative right-wing party has been the largest and strongest political party in Switzerland for decades. Hmm, I wonder if anyone can detect a lesson embedded in these facts... 😉 😂
As I pointed out above, One must be care about throwing the word Liberal around when dealing with European politics. Liberal in American Politics means the exact opposite from what it means in European politics. The US is the only place in the world that is different in it's meaning of Liberal as we understand it. Everywhere else it represents the exact opposite! In your mind you need to transpose the meaning. When dealing with European countries. What's socialist, or Labour parties are what you normally think of as liberal in the US. But, Europe it's actually the opposite! That's why they blend the Liberal and Conservative together.. Now do you get it? That's what she was trying to tell you in the video! It's no so in Germany! That's why they pay a higher tax! The liberals (European style) would do what they did in Swiss, lower to tax to attack more Billionaires! Just like the Billionaires here in the US want to do. The difference is the Billionaires in the US want you with tin cup in your hand begging on the street! Unlike Switzerland. She even said, I have to eat my sandwich and go back to Germany! Germany is actually doing a better job taking care of it's people. But, then again, War never came to Switzerland! did it? That should tell you something? My family was forced to leave Switzerland, because of the Political persecution, and religious bad treatment. Reformation bad treatment. And, poor were all over Swiss 3-400 years ago. @@christheswiss390
I think there is a small, but important addition to the topic of the tax competition between the cantons. Yes, the cantons compete for lower taxes, but there is a certain financial equalisation (Nationaler Finanzausgleich) between the cantons on a national level. So richer cantons support poorer cantons. That way the tax competition is not simply a ruinous race to the bottom. The same is true for the municipalities and cities within the cantons.
Is it fair to support poorer cantons? What is Citizens opinion on that matter? That support is posible only now when all country is rich, but in other scenarios what would happend?
It is a very welcomed system in general, but of course not without discussion. Ther's a constant debate over the amounts, but on the common ground that the finance balance is a must for the political stability (from which everyone is profiting). Frankly, the inequality exists, e.g. canton Zug is way richer then canton Jura.
It is a social aspect to it. so is health care. you have to pay (quite a lot) even if u dont ever go to a doctor. i think it is important to allow everyone a decent life in order to maintain peace and keep criminality low
I dont understand: this system should sharpen the „race to the bottom“ if I am a Swiss canton, I will just lower taxes - if/when my tax income suffers, I will be compensated anyway…?
@@jbruck6874 That would be true if a canton would get a full budget compensation. But that does not happen. I can give you an example. I live in the canton of St. Gallen. Total tax revenue for the year 2022 was 1.79 billion Swiss francs. Additional the canton got a contribution of 323 million Swiss francs from the financial equalisation between the cantons. A tax revenue of 1.83 billion Swiss francs and a contribution of 307 million Swiss francs are budgeted for the year 2023. With the contribution alone, the canton could not provide the necessary services for it's inhabitants.
And the history of how it came about. Who knows that it actually represents Lake Lucerne and not Chritianity? And its use for the Red Cross with inverted colors from Henry Dunant as a symbol of neutrality. That is what those Muslims didn''t understand who created the Red Halfmoon organization. Ludicrous!
It is safe to say that Switzerland's system is better than Germany's system. They outperform us in almost every metric. Therefore, we shouldn't be ignorant or too arrogant to accept that and we should try to adapt some of the good things in Switzerland to make our own country better.
@@3581tossit As a German who knows Switzerland and swiss people from business a bit - I do not support this idea. There is a reason why people are as they are and it makes no sense to pretend something else. This is not about better or worse.
Interesting. They call Switzerland the richest country in the world and Italy is considered poor. However Swiss can’t afford to buy a house but over 85% of us Italians own a house and majority without a mortgage and many with wife staying at home. What are the standards for being consider rich? 😅
If you compare Swiss salaries to Swiss (domestic) prices, you'll get a purchasing power similar to other "developed" countries. The thing is that the exchange rate between the Swiss Franc and other major currencies is rather unbalanced, because of the high demand for the CHF. And that makes the country look both very rich and very expensive to outsiders. The Swiss National Bank spends a lot of money trying to keep the exchange rate from getting even more out of balance, but not always successfully. And while this makes it easy for the Swiss to buy things abroad, it is quite hard to sell Swiss made products in other countries, because they can't compete with the prices in other countries. That's one reason why many Swiss companies target the luxury segments where customers are willing to pay extra money for a "Swiss quality" label. Other Swiss companies have moved most of their production to other countries and only keep their headquarters within the country.
It also might explain why the average R&D budget of Swiss companies is so high. If you can't compete with the price, one way to compete is with innovation.
@@alterego2421 Not in the last 10 or 15 years tho. If you possess less than 10 grams you pay a CHF 100 fine and thats it. No criminal record or court case either. I think the commenter didnt exactly mean weed anyway. We arent anything special in that regard. Most likely they are referring to the controlled distribution of heroin, starting in the 90s as a response to the then massive heroin crisis and the Platzspitz/Letten open drug scenes. That was a truly novel and innovative approach at the time and still is pretty special to this day.
@@alterego2421 i bi definitiv dass i vor 2017 verwütscht worde und nur mit de 100 fr büesst worde bin. Wenn du meh als die buess becho hesch, denn isch no öppis anders gsi. Villicht bisch unter 18ni gsi oder autogfahre oder bim deale verwütscht worde oder so. Eifach nur max 10g weed für über 18 jährigi git sit 2013 nur no d buess und süsch nix.
@@alterego2421 its still illegal but you dont have to go to court for it since 2013, so its a just a low fine. but yes before the judge could decide on your fine and that varied a lot and could be very expensive.
As a tourist in Switzerland I once cycled across the country (actually across all the Alpine countries from Nice to Wien). My experience was that I was cycling in a non-real world, everythnig was unrealisticly perfect, the grass was greener, the sky was bluer if you know what I mean. But it was harder to get along with the locals, they seemed a bit distant, not so communicative compared to the French, Italain or Austrians. At Grimselpass parking lot I met a bunch of teenagers (they seemed) having fun, all came with some Lambos, Porches and stuff like that. It was surreal as well. An other time I traveled by car and once the police stopped me in the middle of a roundabout, packed all my stuff out of the car, searched every inch, made me doing an alcohol test for nothing. I think this was all about my foreign numberplate :).
The car stop 'n' frisk thing likely happened because one of the cops was a trainee or new to the force and was shown the ropes on how to procede with a thorough check in the field. I have been stopped a number of times and after politely responding to the question 'Where are you heading?' I was let go without ever having to produce an ID or driver's license etc. like in the US.
Yes, probably. I had only been stopped by police in some Balkan countires berfore where every time it turned out they just needed some Euros... So maybe I'm a bit prejudiced against police in general.
It was harder to get to the locals? When I cycle, hike, ski, I get to talk almost every time to bus drivers, farmers, other travellers. Have you left the comfort zone along the main roads? For sociological findings, you must inquire at least 1000 persons. How can fellowmen of a country, which is one of the most globalised, be reluctant to communicate? In Switzerland, cycling is as popular as mountaineering, skiing, so you were not considered as special. Also consider that many who are doing menial jobs are foreigners.
I feel very fortunate to live in the black forest just a few minutes from the swiss border. Switzerland is next level in everything it seems. Great cities, great transportation, the Alps, beauty everywhere. Just an amazing place.
With low tax rates I was wondering how they have so much money…they’re not spending 40% on the military so there’s money for schools, etc. though it is beautiful, so I totally understand why the rich like to be there.
The are spending soo much on military… every year 12 billion in debt because of that shit. The Military service is also mandatory. that’s why I’m in the military rn….
Fun fact: I did a tour in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland where they mentioned the money gesture you do with your fingers and thumb rubbing together came from the area. Back in the day that's how they tested the quality of the Linen produced in the area.
You still use that gesture with US paper currency. Its texture is quite unique since it has a small percentage of cotton mixed into the paper. It is one of the many ways to spot counterfeit bills.
Dear Ashton, you did an excellent video on what makes Switzerland rich. But what you did not say is how the Swiss manage to externalize certain environmental and social costs. Please also do a video on that ;)
@@Morjixxo For starters: Why is CH not in the NATO and/or the EU? Why does CH not offer universal healthcare? Who does the „dirty“ jobs there? How is the flow of goods into and out of the country organized, where do most of the wares come from? Can poor people afford cheap flat rents or are they more or less forced to emigrate? Does Switzerland give shelter to asylum seekers? If yes, under what conditions? And more…
@@dr.paulwilliam7447Switzerland is not in EU because the people does not want to be part of a tyrannical bureaucratic moloch. Switzerland is not in NATO because of neutrality, and this is a very good thing. People here get good social services, beggars and homeless people are rare. many of todays Swiss citizens came here as refugees - or thrir ancestors - the ex Jugoslavs, the Tamils, the Hungarians, Eritreans, Ukrainians... they get humble but sufficient provision when they arrive.
@@barbaraseiler9750This is either straight up misinformation to lure people or a very biased and chauvinistic opinion, which in eaither way doesn't represent anything.
Swiss here: Kudos to you! Very well researched and delivered! I didn't pick up a single mistake... except maybe that Crédit Suisse is not an independent company anymore, and will mostly disappear in the forced merger with UBS.
I’m at the beginning of this video but am making the prediction that being geographically protected, and choosing to remain neutral in conflicts helps avoid spending on wars. Also living in a good trade environment with so many neighbors to trade with likely helps.
Certainly our territory makes it unattractive as a place to conquer and a place to go through. Think of the flatland in Central Europe that has seen armies go through over centuries (Ukraine, Poland,…).
It's possibly not entirely wrong to assume that some of the attitudes of the Swiss are shared by Baden-Württemberg too. Just yesterday I was looking at a table of the 10 companies in Germany applying for most of the patents. Four of them are located in Baden-Württemberg: Bosch, Mercedes, Porsche and ZF. Baden-Württemberg and Bayern are significantly ahead in that regard - not only due to such big companies.
@@TypeAshton Actually the industrialisation of the textile industry was sparking the economic development in Baden, Württemberg, Hohenzollern and Vorarlberg too. In Württemberg that influence was particularly strong in the area of the Swabian Alb (Schwäbische Alb) and there are still a few such companies there like Hugo Boss in Metzingen near Reutlingen (which once was one of the centres of textile industries) or Trigema in Balingen. Building machines for textile production was an important element and fundament of south-west Germany becoming what it is today because the expertise could be transfered to other areas of production. Manufacture of clocks was another important area of industrial activity, particularly in the region of the Black Forrest. Since farming was an important component of the economy mechanisation of agriculture became another important contributor to industrialisation - eg. many small manufacturers of tractors and machines to be used in combination with them.
Some clarification is due here in regard to the patent statistics. Since those companies are registered as applicants for those patents the numbers are cumulative and do not exactly represent the number of inventions made in Baden-Württemberg. For example inventions made in Hildesheim or Bremen will probably be counted as from Baden-Württemberg because the seat of Bosch GmbH is in Gerlingen near Stuttgart. That's a flaw of all patent statistics.
I have to admit, I am filthy but not rich (yet). However growing up in Zürich where I grew up, went to school, did military service and studied (Uni - ZH), I felt average and likely didn' appreciate my country the way I do now after spending a quarter of a century in the US. (20 in LA, 5 in Boston). I only wish I had come back home 10 years prior to 2019. I had to rebuild my life here from scratch and commit to a complete career change which I thought was going to be a pieace of cake. However the Swiss tech industry has gotten extremely picky and the bar to entry is set very high for anyone that can't produce a formal education in the field. After talking to many friends and colleagues (actaully all colleagues, since 'friend' is always associated with 'boyfriend' ) the social mobility aspect is absolutely phenomenal. I dug my heels in, busted my behind and I can say that as of today things are finally beginnig to happen. Dedication and a good (not necessarily hard) work ethic gets you very far in Switzerland. Just about in any field there are plenty of opportunities to grow and move on up.
Another carefully researched and presented show, including sources at the end!!. As a born Swiss who has lived here for close to 60 years (with about 5 years abroad on multiple continents) I mostly agree to your analysis. One of the big reasons of the wealth in Switzerland today that you did not mention is international commodities trading and logistics. Check out the international value streams of coffee, cocoa, precious metals, etc. Some of these have risen only in the past 10 or 15 years and create an ENORMOUS wealth, e.g in the Zug and Geneva areas. Furthermore, e.g Google has created a major research centre in Zürich with thousands of employees, who all pay taxes and spend money.
R&D centers are the reason for the highest expat salaries. It's not just google, 3M is near Burgdorf, in the Bümpliz you find multiple medical research facilities of non-swiss pharma giants in some relatively innocent buildings. (Climate Control Units this size clearly say LAB, not office).
@@beyondEVyeah, most notable is Basel which has the highest average salaries in Switzerland (Pharma). Google is simply in Zürich to hire directly off ETH (the only top 10 school outside the US). The tax environment, high HDI and QOL are supporting factors to facilitate on boarding of talent. Simple as that.
I’m a genuine Swiss, born in Zurich, my parents and all my grandparents were Swiss, i can assure you i am not rich, there are billionaires and millionaires living here but they are in the minority.
Wow, finally a content creator that actually has an actual clue about Switzerland - and then some. She's also well-spoken and comes across as outgoing and vivacious. AND she understands the basics of economics. AND she's extremely easy on the eyes. Doesn't get much better! This is one of the best videos on the prosperity of Switzerland that I've come across in the vast wastelands that are YT. 😊👏👏 Now I'm subscribed and looking forward to viewing your other videos...
One topic u failed to mention are the number of tax dodging US companies that have "shell" European HQ's in Switzerland 🇨🇭 that siphon their profits via Switzerland to Panama and other Tax havens to avoid paying taxes in both the EU and the USA. I used to work for such a business.
@@olivierl2172 It's not so much the country as a whole, but some cantons have extremely sweet individual tax deals for corporations and high valued individuals, which is cannibalising the global tax revenue.
@olivierl2172 I didn't say its a tax haven... Read again. EU shell companies with HQ's in Switzerland... pass their eu profits through Switzerland to Tax havens such as Panama
In summary a well researched video. One thing to mention is when it comes to energy and supposed complete dependency on external sources. This is not completely true. It is for energy contained in fuels, but not for electricity. Most electricity produced is of renewable sources, 62%. The lions share 56% for hydro-electric power, wind and solar 6%. 35% is from two nuclear power plants, and the share of all combustibles, including biomass and garbage incineration is 3% in electricity production. Oil and coal are essentially non existent in the mix, perhaps at a couple of back-up generators at hospitals or a listed historic power plant. So except for the uranium for the nuclear power plants there is no dependence on imported fuels for power generation. Almost all trains in Switzerland run on electric overhead lines, and trains have a share of 38% in all transportation in Switzerland, this part doesn't rely on imported fuels either. However, in the summer Switzerland exports electricity, they produce more power than they use. In the winter hydro electric produces less power and power usage is higher, so they need to import electricity in this period. The balance is zero however. Note; several sites show different percentages, I took those from the Schweizer Bundesamt für Energie and the Verband Schweizerischer Elektrizitätsunternehmen, and averaged between these two.
Filthy Rich? A pejorative tagline, no? The Swiss work very hard, long work weeks in comparison to many European neighbors. The culture is one of duty and trust. The government is quasi-direct democracy, where the people hold control. The constitution has a formal requirement that immigrants integrate into Swiss society. The government is much more devolved than you imply. For instance, citizenship originates at the community level (D: die Gemeinde, F: les communes). Basel, Switzerland.
Also, they invest heavily in infrastructure, with a very long payback horizon. And once they have built something, they keep it maintained. The downside of this is traffic jams due to road construction.
The train system is awesome- but Switzerland has the second best “Public Transport System” in the world - including: Trains 🚆 Busses 🚌 Trams 🚋 Ships 🚢 Funiculars Cable Cars 🚠 All of them with short transfer times…
as long as switzerland will stay conservative and accept only european and high qualified migrants, switzerland will be fine. But if they start to take too much extra european migrants without qualification, as france and many others did rn, then it's over.
Not being at war for centuries and not having to be rebuild two times within 3 decades gave Switzerland a leg up compared to the rest of the world. Not being at war all the time is good actually.
The VAT in Germany has two values, 7% for basic needs and 19% for other goods. And the most important thing to the political continuety in Switzerland is of course their concordance democracy. Every party, that is elected gets participation in the government, so socialists, conservatives, liberals, right- or left wing, greens, all ar part of the government and have at least on ministry. Think about half of the ministries would be led by democrats and the other half by republicans, and both constantly have to agree on any decision that is made. Everytime you can't agree, you have to ask the whole country.
That's an enviroment in which extemists cannot really thrive. They might try to abuse it but a situtation like today in the US would never be possible.
@@barbarossarotbartexcept for WEF Corporateism with their Lobby Groups who are corrupted to the core.............most citizens are absolut unaware how they get played meanwhile the rich poor gap widens fast .......but is still providing a comfortable life for most thats the the main difference compared to other countrys. Will be interesting to see when it is no more necessary for the real Rulers to keep up the Fassade
You write: "Every party, that is elected gets participation in the government...". This is obviously incorrect. Only the largest 4 political parties are represented in the council of 7 ministers that govern the country. But They ARE represented, no matter whether the left-wing feels they should be shunned or not. This means that in Germany, the right-wing, conservative AFD would HAVE to be included in the government to counter-balance the massive and country- and democracy-destroying swing to the left the country has taken in the past 30 years. 😉
"Following the French July Revolution in 1830, a number of large assemblies in Switzerland were held calling for new cantonal constitutions. The modifications to the cantonal constitutions made during this period of "Regeneration" remains the basis of the current-day cantonal constitutions. Vaud introduced the legislative popular initiative in 1846. Berne introduced the legislative optional referendum in the same year. The political crisis of the Regeneration period culminated in the Sonderbund War of November 1847. As a result of the Sonderbund War, Switzerland was transformed into a federal state, with a constitution promulgated on 12 September 1848. This constitution provided for the cantons' sovereignty, as long as this did not impinge on the Federal Constitution. The creation of a bicameral assembly was consciously inspired by the United States Constitution, the National Council and Council of States corresponding to the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively.
Typical erroneous view of a foreigner. If you earn double as much and pay 50% more, you are still better off. All high-income countries are expensive, except resources-rich countries. So go to India for low prices/low salaries and Katar for lower prices/higher salaries.
@@HansGrob -- Not an erroneous view at all, sir. I have been to almost 25 different countries so far - with another six or seven on my list before the end of this year. I totally understand the relationship between salaries and expenses. Sorry if you misread what I wrote. Somebody migrating from India to Canada will have a rough time, even though they make more money. Likewise, my wife and I (being from the USA) can retire quite comfortably on a modest American pension if we decided to stay in Mexico or Costa Rica. Our situation is different, though, as we won't be seeking employment. There is not a direct comparison, at least not in our case. ( Essentially, we would not live nearly as well in Switzerland or Denmark as we can in Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain or even in Chile. )
@@1VaDude For me, Monaco would be expensive, but I don't make a general rule out of it and publish in public. Prices are an indicator of scarcity. Thus you can conclude that Switzerland is either small or sought after. It's economically not sensical to place non-productive persons there. Good for you that there are lowly productive countries. But they are also nearly by definition not well organised and creative. By the way, there are remoter regions in CH with cheap housing. And the other services are also not so expensive, else we would be poor.
@HansGrob -- We were comparing different circumstances too. My wife and I are "seasoned citizens" and aren't looking for a career. Our reasons & criteria regarding a place to live are not the same as most other people. You will find that retired Americans will place a different value on what is "affordable" than somebody from India who might be seeking to emigrate for better economic opportunity. As for scarcity, that's applicable to within the US as well. If we wanted to live in Denver or Washington DC, we would barely get by.......but we could live much better in New Mexico, Kentucky or even most of Florida orTexas. P.S. I have never been to Monaco, but hear that it is beautiful.
@@eljanrimsa5843 the russians will go soon in those impregnables montains ...They are just warming up in the don Bass.. All propheties are annoncing that...The futur is existing indeed...some mediums ve acces to it
Switzerland is no big country... but unlike some confetti-states, it is a fully-developed state, with universities (several of them among the very best ones in the world), an army, an Air Force... even a (very small but existing) navy! Armed forces that are, proportionally to the population of the country, 3 times bigger than all the US armed forces combined. If Switzerland were a US state, it would rank #12 in population, between New Jersey and Virginia. In GDP, it would rank #8, between Ohio and Georgia. Are you ready to compare New Jersey or Georgia with Andorra? or even Luxembourg? I have the feeling you might benefit from studying, in a first phase, then traveling to Europe!
An interesting fact: Switzerland's system was a precursor both for the USA, which in the 18th century partially modeled its republican system on Swiss solutions, and two centuries later for the EU, which modeled its supranational institutions on Swiss relations between the federal government and the cantons. It's hard to believe that this tiny country shakes the world so much...
No. The Swiss system was only comparable to certain US States in development, when Americans conquested the Wild West. And in Switzerland, they changed their own system to suit the Swiss ambition to be a neutral power between the bigger countries around and to avoid civil war. However, the EU is also about being an economic and trade union. But, the Swiss aren't part of that.
As a German living not too far from Switzerland I've always seen that country as a kind of miniature model of Europe for example due to maintaining their different language communities.
In the case of the US, it's the other way around. The Swiss constitution was heavily inspired by the USA, which is also a very federal system. Switzerland as a "proper nation" is relatively young, founded after its last civil war in 1848. What I like about our politics here is that we seem to be less dogmatic and more pragmatic than other places in the world. For example, we agreed to a complete rewrite of our constitution in 1999 - something that seems unthinkable in the USA. Sure, this decision may have a lot to do with direct democracy that tends to create a mess over time, but I see it as a feature, not a bug.
@@herbybey7698 Szwajcaria jest republiką od XII wieku i Amerykanie przy pisaniu swojej konstytucji wzorowali się na republikańskich tradycjach Szwajcarii. Ashton mówiła o tym w filmiku o milicjach i dostępie do broni: ruclips.net/video/yqdT8-DaVk4/видео.html
@@robertrusiecki9033 What existed in the 12th century was nowhere close to what anyone would consider a republic. There was the mythical founding of core Switzerland (only 3 cantons) in 1291, but that was just a rather inconsequential confederacy. There were many conflicts in the following centuries, alliances forged and dismantled, wars fought over both religion and more worldly matters, external influences like Napoleon came and went, ... Anything resembling order and stability around here is a rather recent phenomenon.
One more report about very rich Switzerland postcard. I live here and in my ancester there's probably "Guillaume/Wihelm Tell", or Divico the helvet celtic king who fought Cesar. So I assume it, I can live (well 🙂) with it, but next time... That being said, I would liked to congratulate you for your channel, and for this report particularly. Your speaking style is clear, your argumentation is well built, synthetic. You mention your sources. The images, diagrams and movies are well choosen and adequate. Bravo for this work. Either you are brillant or you spent hours documenting you subjects (or both). It's a pleasure to see and hear someone presenting subjects on such a pleasant manner, with structured and scientific background. There's no swiss language, but in my region we would say : alles guete !
When you look at the whole of Europe, there is a large zone comprising north-western Italy, Eastern France (especially the regions bordering Switzerland and Germany) and the Paris Region, Southern Germany, the Rhine valley, the Low countries and southeastern England that have relative high per-capita incomes, and have had higher than average incomes compared to the rest of Europe, since at least the Middle Ages. Today there may be huge rustbelt areas in parts of Southern Belgium and the Ruhr, but they were very prosperous in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Two the the wealthiest countries in Europe, Luxembourg and Switzerland, happen to be in that high-income region. It would be interesting to know what geographical factors make that region so wealthy. It probably has something to do with having a mild climate, fertile soil, navigable rivers, a varied geography and being centrally located in Europe.
Please be aware that Switzerland, with the exceptions of the cities of Zurich, Basel and Geneva, was dirt poor up to around WW1. The factor is no one that you mentioned (except central location). The Swiss agricultural soil is mostly good for 2 crops a year of... hay! The two leading factors are in fact 1) very high average education, including apprenticeship, 2) Political, and hence fiscal and legal stability. And those factors precisely started to dominated other countries' in the early 20th century. But that's just my opinion.... an economist or sociologist might prove me wrong... although that would surprise me.
Yes, all a the region around the Alps are the most economically competitive. I think there is a commonality in the mentality. I grow up in nord west Italy and lived one year in Switzerland.
Greetings from Switzerland, excellent video loved it, everything is well explained and correct! Just one thing the tax rates at 10:16 are maximum rates, no one pays those. The average rate you pay is about half of that!
Decentralization wasn’t a political decision. It’s an historical fact that came from the three first cantons, forced to unite against bigger threat. Then other regions joined the group and, due to local languages and cultures differences, it has been easier to stay in this initial setup and it worked out well. For now.
Switzerland is investing a lot in its education system (teachers and professors are very well paid and encouraged to continually improve their curriculum).
Hi Ashton. Als always excellent done and researched, thank you. I have something to add. I lived and worked for 10 years in Switzerland and living now in Freiburg. In regards of foreigners in Switherland, they are mostly high educated to be allowed to be there. And what the Swiss Government does it does not educate enoght doctors, because that is expensive, it recruits it from Germany or other good educated doctors, but mostly from Germany. What I think is the most important part for the Swiss wealth, that everyone is responsible for his actions. One example but it migth be not present now. As a cyclist I had a license plate on my bicicles and I could get fined until forbidden to ride a bike if I violate the rules. And there is no Beamtentum in Switzerland, as an officer you are responsible for what you are doing, as are the politicians. And they make the laws for everybode, because everybode has the same rights and mostly possibilities. It is the same health insurance and the same retirement insurance for everybody. In Germany mostly Beamten and Lawyers make the laws, and they have different health insurance and retirement insurances then the people affected by the law. In the US the ultra rich make the laws and the laws do not apply for them. This principle of making the law for somebody else is medieval, and did not work well in that time either. Like many said Switzerland does have a left movement, but it is not that strong and it takes time, therefore Mutterschutz is not as great as in Germany and you have to insure every child separately in the health insurance. Finally I love you work and hope you keep doing it a long time. Urs Müller
EU: You don't get access to the single market, unless you agree to freedom of movement of persons. CH: Ok, we don't really want that, but fine. We do need that access. 10 Years later... CH brain-drains the EU. At least, when Covid came round, we did help out the french, by allowing to transfer patients from alsace. The part about "Being responsible for one's actions" makes a lot of difference. At least until recently this also went hand in hand, with people not falling for the tragedy of the commons. "bünzlitum" proved a effective barrier to people abusing public resources and destroying them in the process. Some of the leftist issues are also in conflict with the small enterprises. Those are far more reliant on individual workers and have a much harder time accommodating prolonged absences. Big company simply has enough people on reserve to compensate. Things average out.
As a Swiss born in France and living in Switerland for 14 years, I have to say the video is pretty spot on, love the fact that for once the industry and all other business areas outside of banking are mentioned here. Great video!!! Nevertheless the fact that the swiss franc is stronger compared to other currencies is good for importations but not that great for exports. Yes prices are then higher but you lose in competitiveness against other competitors. This has been going on since 2015, when the fixed exchange rate to the € was dropped. Companies have adapted since then but most of them would say that a stronger CHF is not the way to go. What would be also interesing is comparing tha ratio "earnings/cost of living in Switzerland" to other countries. For example you were mentioning taxation on property, even though the tax is low, property prices are not: the median price in Switzerland for a house is CHF 1,1 million and CHF 780k for an appartment.
The nominal price of a home doesn't much matter, as long as the value appreciation of those assets is in lockstep with - or often outstrips (like in Switzerland) - the growth of the economy. And since Switzerland has one of the fastest growing populations of the industrialized world (since everyone wants to move to Switzerland to participate in the exploding prosperity of the Swiss society), this ensures sky-high, yet never waning demand for real estate, driving its prices up continuously. Now you know why >15% of all adults in Switzerland are millionaires. You say: "What would be also interes(t)ing is comparing th(e) ratio "earnings/cost of living in Switzerland" to other countries." Statistics on the median and average wealth per capita across multiple countries answer just that question. So while Swiss living costs are seemingly high, obviously the personal savings and wealth accrual in Switzerland are far easier to achieve than in other countries, resulting in some of the highest Swiss savings and personal wealth statistics on the planet. I recommend to periodically look at statistical OECD, UN, World Bank or EU data.
Mind you even though Switzerland is a rich country, the cost of living is at that same hgh level; Switzerland has been the #1 spot on the Big Mac index for ages and does so with a large marge compared to the rest of the world.
Yes, Switzerland indeed reigns on the global Big Mac Index. That much is true (although Norway is seriously catching up)! BUT, the Swiss price is only 45% higher than the EU average (as well as USA and Britain), while salaries are higher by a multiple of 2 to 3! So, in PPP, the Swiss Big Mac price might be bloody close to be the cheapest in the world. As we talk McDonald's, it might be good to note that the minimum gross hourly salary a McDonald's worker earns in Geneva is CHF 24.32/hour, which corresponds to €25.77, £22.00 or USD 27.80... 3 times the US rate for the very same job!
@@hasinabegum1038 Yes indeed! But 5 other cantons have minimum wage between 20 and 24 francs/hour. 20.60 francs/hour in the rural canton of Jura takes you further than 24.32 in bloody expensive Geneva.
The cost of real estate in Switzerland is ridiculous. Even with a Swiss salary, the value just isn't there. Working in Switzerland but living in the Frontier Zone is a great way to get ahead financially while still living in a more authentic country. I mean, come on, Switzerland couldn't even come up with their own language.
As an Ex-Ami, naturalized Swiss - I'm ready. Sock it to me! .... later... Ok, well done! One note - as an immigrant here, I never made close to the $202k you mentioned. Certainly not as a musician, and not as a teacher or IT-specialist. But despite that, we're comfortable here as retirees now. That obligatory employee/employer financed pension plan plus the Swiss version of Social Security, give us around 85% of our last take-home pay. And allows us our vacations (4-6 per year) in Switzerland, France and Germany.
@@hasinabegum1038 wow, such a nice person. Do you think that's a gift or something? Do you know how pensions and Social Security work? Here in Switzerland, both personal pensions and the Swiss version of Social Security are financed 50% by the employee. But you feel that having a lower-middle class income like I did, getting 85% of that back as a pension from pension plans I contributed to for my entire working life is too much? So you think I should be forced to work at a Wallmart or something until I keel over like in the US? Such a nice person. I wouldn't wish your wishes for me on my worst enemy.
OMG, only just found you, well this is actually the 3rd video i'm watching, and it is so very apparent how much time and deep research you're putting into your YT offerings. This one in particular, is very well done and is so accurate! I'm a Brit, have lived here for about 4 decades, and I must say, this is probably the best video from a foreigner explaining Switzerland, that I have ever seen. Well done, look forward to watching many more of your videos. One thing I have noticed, and I know you'll say there are too many comments to have the time to react to them all, and I understand that, but the percentage of those that you do acnowledge, is very, very small.... Pity! Selbstverständlich, habe ich dein Channel Abonniert. Weiter so, see you next Sunday, tschüss.
I try to react to as many as I can, but I am currently on maternity leave and am only under contract to work 4 hours per week. So the majority of that time goes towards the production of videos. Starting in June, however, my little one starts in Kita and I resume normal work activities.
Meanwhile everyone here in Norway with significant assets are about to move to Switzerland because of our insane taxes on working capital. The argument of the finance minister for not reducing the taxes are "because then normal people would need to pay more", but he doesn't understand that if they all move then the country will have even less income.
In my opinion the geographical factor was not worked out enough. It's in the center of the so-called Blue Banana and has big and strong economies as neighbors. That's a much stronger factor as presented.
Lets keep it real. The low to no inheritance, federal, and capital gains taxes are the biggest reasons why the rich flock to Switzerland. The stability of it's currency and standard of living is also good, however, the tax rates is the primary reason.
It's a tiny country surrounded by much larger filthy rich countries to do business with. Without the rest of Europe, Switzerland would look like Nepal. Countries like Switzerland, Singapore, Monaco etc. are like oxpeckers: small birds that live in a mutualistic relationship with large mammals like elephants, rhinoceroses and cattle. They're cute, successful and definitely important to their host animals because they remove parasites from their skin. But without their host animals, they wouldn't do nearly as well. It's the same with these countries - which doesn’t mean they're bad, but it does mean that unless you live in a similarly-sized country neighboring multiple larger national economies, then places like Switzerland aren't a role model for your country. If we were to talk about an oxpecker, then one of the first things to do would be to acknowledge the rhinoceros it sits on. Likewise, a video about Switzerland's success should probably mention the EU.
@@Flavor_FlavNepal's immediate neighbours in the region are India, Tibet, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan and China. All of these countries are known for their corruption (or in some instances, being occupied by a corrupt country). Switzerland sits in a sea of economic success, and the rising tide lifts all the boats. It's the same for Nepal, except here it's a corrupt swamp. If Nepal's neighbours solved their problems, then Nepal's corruption would dissolve like puff of smoke in the wind.
I noted a few not so minor in accuracies: The major part of the taxes does not go to either the canton nor the federal states but to the municipalities. Almost all political power resides in the village with the mayor, even citizenship is granted at the municipality level. - The tax competition is between villages not cantons. In one of the video inserts one could see Credit Suisse. Not really a good example of Swiss financial institutions. They went more or less bankrupt last year and where taken over by UBS. Some of the pictures must have been old and from somewhere else. I never saw masses of people with COVID masks in the streets at any time in Switzerland. The COVID measures were very very mild compared to Germany and Austria. Quite a few people got vaccinated, but the pubs stayed open and their were basically no lockdowns, no masks open-air. I did not have to show my vaccination status in Switzerland a single time through the period of worldwide frenzy. I have never heard your pronunciation of the currency in English. Franc rhymes on tank, bank, drank. Yours sounded like a half hearted attempt of the French version. Maybe I have overheard it, but you did not mention the linguistic make up of the country which is really what uniquely defines "Swissness". It is not true that they did not have war in 500 years. They were heavily involved in the Napoleonic wars. They have a strong tradition of mercenaries, the Pope's Swiss guards date back to this tradition. The present territory was defined in the Napoleonic wars. They had confessional wars until 1850 in Fribourg. Attributing high literary to protestantism is historically wrong. The highest literacy rates in German speaking countries were achieved in Catholic regions often with monks and nuns as teachers. Compulsory schooling was introduced first in archcatholic Austria as early as 1780. The economic success in Switzerland is not a product of politics but rather a high work ethics, high level of civil consciousness. This does have to do with religion, not necessarily with protestantism. A lot of la Suisse Romande, Tessin and even many German speaking cantons was and remains Catholic. Political spectrum: There are about 30% leftleaning voters between the socialists and the greens. Every now and than Geneva has a communist mayor. Bern and Zurich have strong leftist possibly extremist milieus. Left parties are stronger in the larger cities and the French Speaking regions, other than Vallais- The strongest party, SVP cannot be accurately defined as "conservative" but would be defined populist and strictly anti-European in other countries. Any political approach to Europe is strongly rejected in repeated referenda supported by the SVP. They even joined the UN only in 2002. The closest correspondance in Germany would be the AfD the FPOE in Austria. Maybe embaressing that this is the case in arguably the most successful European country, but this is the way it is. A strong currency is an obstacle to foreign trade not a benefit. While you might be able to buy cheap you can't sell expensive. The fact that they have a healthy surplus makes their success even more remarkable.
There are quite a number of downsides to this however. Switzerland might be very rich, but the costs of living there are incredibly high, so the statistical average wealth of people might sound high, but it's inflated because of Switzerland's high costs of living, which includes rent prices. So the actual standard of living isn't actually as high as it might look at first, even if it is certainly higher than in most other countries.
And those kids attending those affluent school aren’t the ones building or creating the new technologies of the future, they’re the ones inheriting the companies that own the world.
Yeah, I seem to remember someone telling me that as a foreigner, if you work in Switzerland and lose your job, they don't want you there anymore. So unemployment benefit is not provided like in other countries. So I guess you are welcome to contribute to their workforce and spend your money there (expensive) but if you're down on your luck, the welcome is rescinded. So while good for the country's economy, maybe not so good for the individual.
@@catherinedeschryver1036 Not true. I have been a foreigner (American) living and working in Switzerland for many years, and twice I lost my job. I received full unemployment benefits (80% of last salary with kids) which is provided for 1.5 years, plus assistance in finding a new one (free training etc). What would have happened after 1.5 years I don't know because I always found a new job in a few months.
@@catherinedeschryver1036 Okay, actually I was thinking less about the individual, but more about how wealth accumulates here also in a kind of national level. I can't think of any other country in the world, that would be able to have basically such low taxation on one hand - implementing the dream of neoliberalism - while maintaining such high investments in there infrastructure on the other hand. Any other country that had dramatically reduced the taxation of their rich in the last decades (Germany, the US and the UK come to my mind) now really have crumpeling streets, issues with their railways, financial holes in their power infrastructure and/or in their health or education system. I really don't know any other country where reducing the taxation of the rich helped to keep the country wealthy in the long run. And for that, Switzerland is really an exceptional example.
Don't forget that Switzland was the poor house in Europe about 150 -180 years ago. We even paid people the ship ticket to america because this was cheaper than keep them and support them here. We do have lots of problems in Switzerland, but as Ashton mentioned, we do have a "weak" government and due to the political system we have, changes are hard and take longer. I would argue that therefore we made fewer mistakes and maybe spend the tax money more wisly (at least in the past). And don't forget, a lot of infrastructer is paid via gasoline tax, tax for trucks using the roads, Vignette (Maut for autobahn) etc. And the 0.4% rise in VAT (from 7.7 to 8.1 %) this year is for the pension. So there are a lot of ways how to get money out of your pocket and not just income tax.
View from UK (in Germany at the moment) knew a German who moved to Switzerland with a job offer for seriously more money, he is working back with his original German company - yes you can earn more in Switzerland but it cost more to live there. Of course it’s a bucket list location to visit, but like most places if you earn more money life cost more, no golden ticket to wealth.
Purchasing power is way higher in Switzerland than in Germany in my experience. Switzerland is expensive but still you can have a better life, travel more. I’m aware that it may depend on your job; I’m a scientist and hence badly paid regardless of the place I choose to live.
@@rucky_665 Correct! Most jobs, from minimum-wage ones to pHDs or other very qualified persons, are paid in general between 2 and 2.5 times higher than a comparable job in Germany, while the PPP ratio. is 1.6.
9:55 comparing the 7% average sales tax in the US with 25% VAT in Scandinavia, 15-20% in most of Europe... 😮😮 (yes i know sales tax and VAT are different things, but they are used in similar contexts)
Regarding the educational system. Switzerland is only mediocre in the first +/- 10 years of school. For example Finnland is way better in this regard. But what is REALLY REALLY great about the Swiss educational system is that it‘s dual. You can either go to college an dstudy afterwards but you can also do an apprentice ship. Either option is regarded as good education.
As a Swiss, I agree with much of what you pointed out in this video. However, your remark on Switzerland having a 'week political left' and suggesting the prosperity of Switzerland is down to the political right rubs me the wrong way. This is a typically ignorant and antisocial (dare I say anti-European) American attitude and is far from the truth. The left is not significantly weaker than in other European countries and has been included in the Swiss consensus government since World War Two. Many of the social achivements of the last century have been spearheaded by the left: workers rights, proportional vote, women's voting rights and the Swiss retirement insurance to name but a few. It is exactly the combining of a prosperous market economy with social safeguards that make the European model of social market economy such a success particularly in Switzerland.
Well, if I remember it correctly, in Switzerland voting rights for women were only introduced on March 16. 1971 and equal participation of women in the labour market was not enshrined in law until 1981/1996. So if the social achievements were spearheaded by the left, as you quite rightly state, that was obviously not the case in Switzerland. Ashton is therefore right and her opinion of a weak leftist movement in Switzerland and does not demonstrate an anti-social and anti-European American attitude.
i'd say it's kind of mixed. we never had a large communist party in switzerland, we never had a labour government, and in particular when it comes to womens' rights, we lagged far behind. on the other hand the socialist party has been a permanent member of government since world war two, and we have excellent welfare and social security and healthcare systems, which are all the result of a strong political left.
@@TypeAshtonIreland is only superficially super rich. Low tax rates attract corporate capital but most money flows in and then quickly out with very little being invested locally. What’s interesting is why Ireland hasn’t yet become Switzerland.
You mean money laundry havens? How can such small countries with little population, no great activity in natural resources, energy, IT, defense, manufacturing or even tourism can be so rich? Oh, I forgot their main activity is finances. It is this that creates enough cash flow for all their other smaller activities to flourish, for bank loans for large investments and to ultimately maintain the low taxes. The problem with finances is that often the source of the large deposits are dubious, war lords, dictators, third world royals and generals, oil and resources tycoons, pirates, arms dealers, human traffic dealers, drug dealers and so on. You see, without these havens there would not be much point in making so much money. Where else would you store and invest it safely and legally, have a protect place to live, mingle with the same kind and have great services done by a well paid qualified and civilized workforce.
I am American and when I was a student in Germany, one Christmas vacation, I worked as a bartender at a ski resort in Switzerland. About 25 or 30 years ago, I watched a Swiss TV program that showed new townhouses being built for the working class in Switzerland. They had 3 feet thick brick walls and the plumbing pipes in the houses were made of expensive stainless steel. They were priced back then at 1.3 million US dollars. They said they were for workers, such as carpenters and plumbers and the mortgages were structured such that the buyers weren't expected to completely pay off the mortgages in their lifetimes. It was like paying rent for a lifetime and they would either sell them with some mortgage left or family members would end up paying off the mortgages later. They were tall, narrow townhouses with lots of stairs, that likely wouldn't appeal to older people. They had very long mortgages, which I guess , over time might be lower than rent, but they were so long in years, that the original buyers wouldn't live long enough to pay them off.
One issue to consider is that Switzerland has not been involved in the wars of Europe. Wars may lead to innovation but they also bankrupt nations. So after WW1 and WW2 they lost nothing. Of course their stability was important - so they could take assets from all sides. This is not to disregard what was said here, rather it is a build on this.
Great video. Please do make a visit to Denmark and dive into our economy. You'll find we are doing pretty well, but also that it is perhaps interesting that especially one company has become a major factor - sort of like what Nokia was for Finland.
Just one note: stronger currency it's actually detrimental to a country like Switzerland that exports more than it imports. It does not allow for higher exports prices... On the contrary, it will reduce exports volumes since swiss made products will result relatively more expensive abroad due to the stronger currency. This is even worse for Switzerland if we take into consideration that production costs are higher than in the rest of Europe or the world.
@@SMILYSUNFLOWER yes that is what they wish for. The SNB has no real power on changing the value of the CHF as it is only determined by the market. However, by lowering interest rates they are hoping more people will borrow in CHF, ultimately increasing the money supply which COULD result in lower value of the franc. The second effect they are hoping is that since interest rates in the US and Euro Area are still higher, people are gonna sell CHF for USD or EUR to then deposit the money there and get higher returns, devaluing the Swiss Franc. There are some other ways interest rates influence the currency but these two are usually considered the main ones.
People forget were we came from. Before the two world wars, Switzerland was not really rich. There has just been pumped in a lot of money because of the banking system and reliability. But that is slowly is degrading. The tipping point was in the 80s when innovation slowed down. Depends where the riches comes from and who keeps it.
Yep, they do a lot things better than most. Concerning exports, a strong currency is usually hampering exports not benefitting them. Love your videos, excellent content and superb editing. Thanks!
Nice video, way better that the CNBC one from some days ago. Unfrortuatley all video about Switzerland speak abouth the rich part and people of this country, nobody take a look the avarage citizen, people that strugle for pay the very high cost of living created by the rich people from abroad.
As someone from Asia, I'm often fascinated by Switzerland, and I hope Asian countries can learn from this country as well. Not sure whether it's a blessing or bad luck, Switzerland is a relatively small country with small population. What would happen if Switzerland was say a bigger country like UK? Would their GDP per capita (US$) still be so high like US$80,000+. If so, their economy size would be as big as Japan, even China
Nice piece! One thing I noticed when I last visited Switzerland (Basel) in 2013 is the prices. While I don’t remember the exact currency exchange rate which has a bearing, the prices we paid were much more when accounting for the difference in currency value. My memory thinks it was about USD - CHF .93, it was much better when I first visited in 1983!
This is a really good video. Informative and with a clear perspective. Switzerland has decided not to be cheap. Well done, you Swiss (from a German perspective).
Gutes Video mit den zentralen Punkten Steuern, Bildung, Stabilität und früher Industrialisierung. Ich glaube ein weiter Punkt ist, dass die Schweiz im 2 WK nicht zerstört wurde. Nach dem Krieg hatte die Schweiz eine intakte Industrie und konnte wegen der traditionelle engen Bindung an Deutschland, massiv vom Wiederaufbau profitieren. Zum Thema Krieg eine Anmerkung: Es gab viele kriegerische Konflikte in den letzten 500 Jahren. Dabei gab es jedoch keine Zerstörungen und Plünderungen (Ausnahme Plünderung Staatsschatz Bern durch Napoleon), die das Land zurückwarfen. Diese Konflikte bleiben auf tote Soldaten beschränkt, mit geringer bis keiner Beeinträchtigung der Infrastruktur oder Produktionsstädten. In dem Sinne war die Schweiz nicht Kriegsfrei, aber blieb verschont von Kriegen, die das Land verwüsteten.
Die Eidgenossenschaft blieb zwar selbst von einer direkten, insbesondere territorialen Beteilung in europäischen Kriegen im wesentlichen verschont. Allerdings waren große Teile der Schweiz lange Zeit so arm, dass es nicht ungewöhnlich für schweizer Männer war, sich als Söldner in fremden Heeren anwerben zu lassen, wodurch Schweizer früher an vielen Kriegen teilnahmen. Dies spielte auf jeden Fall bis in die Zeit der Napoleonischen Kriege eine Rolle. Andererseits hatten seit den Schwabenkriegen die nördlichen Nachbarn der Schweiz, also Staaten des römisch-deutschen Reichs, kaum noch Interesse an einem Krieg mit der Eidgenossenschaft. Und mit dem Ende des Dreissigjährigen Krieges 1648 schied die schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, wie auch die Niederlande, praktisch vollständig aus dem Heiligen Römischen Reich (deutscher Nation) aus. Ein prominentes Überbleibsel des schweizerischen Söldnerwesens ist übrigens die Schweizergarde im Vatikan.
I was born and raised in Switzerland, currently 24 years old. This insane wealth my country has, is honestly something I can't even start to comprehend, considering I'm defenietly not in this "average yearly salary" chart. Speaking of which, that chart is quite a bit skewed, since there are a lot of, very high Top 1% earners, making so much money, that it skews the view of average income. The median income puts it in a way more realistic perspective.
The reason for high share of doctorate holders in population is not the education but rather the economy attracting highly educated expats. At least in some of the leading countries.
switzerland did reform its education system. to be more compatible and to bring the numbers up (some loss of quality). But there is also a lot of import. If you want to hire the best in the field and create a new R&D centre, it's easier to convince them to move to switzerland than most other places. and since medical personnel is expensive to train, we now mass import them from the EU. Bilateral agreements basically means: Switzerland gets to participate in the EU-Market and gets to brain-drain their neighbours.
Even not paying for goods delivered out . Like Aloise Odermatt the owner of Delimpex. Ag . Pretending they will buy from hungarian Company Corona baromfi kft and had done closing before paying . Blaming by Jutadiction is not possible as they are out of EU range
Who claimed their shady business dealings stopped 80 years ago? The shady business dealings of the other countries didn't stop. True off-shore banking from the Panama papers has in large parts replaced the Swiss in this position. But they know how to make their money work for them. Currency needs to be backed up with gold, gold they had plenty. History still does matter a lot in all this, as it does in all places around the globe.
I am Swiss and yes: The country is rich, but not all the Swiss people (most rich people came from outside to live here). Education is still good, but I see, like everywhere, is getting worse. Education is totally important for direct democracy. Switzerland has money, just don't forget that we gave Greece a money to help them out, and we send good to Ucraine... Switzerland has and also gives.
Switzerland is definitely not a tax paradise anymore.. It is now Delaware, South Dakota(or is it North?), or the Isle of Man... not to mention the more exotic ones.
I also appreciate very much your videos. Thank you very much. The beauty of switzerland in times of ideology discussions and political debates considering liberalism and minimal state is that somewhat the capitalistic society does not seem to smash the "normal" people. There are minimum wages stagered according to your profession, the workers have rights preserved, all inhabitants are obliged by law to have a health insurance so that nobody should die in front of a hospital. No strange discussions about minimal wages of 2.5 / hour or disguised socialism. School is free and highly appreciated, coined to the necessities of the market not wasting too much time discussing ideologies or religious differences. Switzerland lives, as you said, from well educated people, if the school fails, the country will fail. Although there are many millionaires the ones at the other end of the spectrum do not seem as badly treated as elsewhere. No switzerland is not a paradise, not at all, but to my feeling, despite all capitalism and conservative thoughts people are genuinely free to be as they want and express themself as they want (only constraint is the law, that is clear). That is what I appreciate the most.
Libertarians really out themselves when they make out Switzerland as some kind of example of their values. Because "small state" (like Ashton also stated) is absolutely not what Switzerland has, there is a huge administrative overhead and tons of regulations, which vary from "Kanton zu Kanton" making it even harder to keep it all within regulations for companies. The Libertarians out themselves because their whole story boils down to small taxation and that is all they really are interested in.
@@SarahAndreaRoycesChannel Ehmmm! No, I do not agree. There is of courseadministration in Switzerland, but procedures are much lighter, much more efficient, with generally more respect to the "client", then in the other 3 countries I have lived in (Germany, France and USA). I have also had bad experiences in Switzerland, but nothing, even close, to the nightmares I have often experienced in France or Germany, for instance, both as an individual, as well as professionally, as an executive.
@@st-ex8506 As a person that like you lived in a variety of those countries, I'd say germany was slightly better. But the biggest procedural or administrative problems I experienced were not country based anyway. It was the horrible bureaucracy by incorporated companies. How easy was it for you to move your google and apple accounts when moving countries?
@@SarahAndreaRoycesChannel I move neither my Google nor my Apple account... ever. When I moved to the USA, I did not... because neither Google nor Apple existed at the time. When I lived in Germany, it was for building a plant for my employer (I was chief engineer then) and, being employed by a Swiss company, I stayed domiciled in Switzerland. Not that I am retired and mainly live in France, you are the first person to tell me that I should change something to my accounts... but I won't. In Germany, the worst problems was going through all the hoops required to authorize, build and then commission a chemical plant. I have done the same in Switzerland, and here it goes like a breeze. Not that there are no norms to respect, etc, but the authorities are most helpful. You feel that you are their client. They want that plant be built and create employment! In Germany, it was pure bureaucratic hell! But, personally, I had good friends and colleagues around me, and generally a good time in Germany. France is a beautiful country and we love it. But it is the quality of services that here make one's life miserable. The public administration is also very bureaucratic, but they are not the worst. Let's say that what you can achieve in 24 hours with a Swiss administration will take you 3 weeks in France. But, ultimately, it will be done. The absolute worst is the level of service "offered" by banks and insurance companies that is rock bottom. EVERY TIME you need a document from your bank, or you have a claim to the insurance company, they drive you absolutely nuts. I will give you another example. When you have to deal with any large organisation in France, you will spend literally hours on the phone, listening to silly tunes most of the time, and bumped up from one incompetent service to another one just as incompetent. You are NEVER a known and respected entity. In Switzerland, the name of the person responsible for my tax account at the fiscal administration is printed on the first page of my tax-return form, together with his or her DIRECT phone line! You always deal with that one person (except if he or she is on holiday or sick... ) if you have questions or problems to solve. That person knows you and is always most helpful. You have a temporary cash problem and cannot pay your taxes in time? No problem, he won't even ask you to prove what you are saying, but will issue a new and deferred payment schedule. All that with a 3 mn phone call. Try to do that with the French fiscal administration.... good luck! The very same is true with the federal pension administration, for instance. You get answers from competent and helpful persons, and solve problems in a breeze. Having retired a few months ago, and confronted to a mistake in the calculation of my pension, the problem was solved promptly. I am not saying that it would not end up being solved elsewhere, but it would take several time the effort, and much frustration! So, yes, I agree with you, that is indeed some private corporations that drive us nuts... at least the most.
Funny how she misses the two probably Most powerful reasons for Switzerlands success: 1. Affordable HIGH CLASS Education for EVERYBODY (Update to College) and 2. “Direct Democracy”.
I lived in Montreux & Vevey Switzerland for 10 years. I left after paying double tax for so long. Many Americans who work for Nestle are renouncing their citizenship because of this. It's not so much Switzerland that enforces this but America because of money laundering.
Direct democracy is a very interesting tool to me. Swiss citizens seem to complain far less about politics and politicians, as in many questions, the populous gets the final say. It is often accepted as the people's will. Which may also be why there are almost no strikes and public services run quite smoothly. Many labor intense things are expensive here, but: normal workers are usually paid a decent salary, products and services tend to be of good quality and crossing the border for EU products is for many people a viable option. Thanks for not showing the boring "Switzerland is only rich because of shady banking deals"-story.
Switzerland has the GAV system (General Working Agreements). After negotiation between workers and employers they generally are then state approved. after which point, the are like labour law. that allows for flexible adaptation of labour law to fit the realities of the different industries. But it mainly ensures fair competition, as employers then can't get a unfair advantage over their competitor, by exploiting their workers. And with the economy in almost constant boom, the demand for labour is high. that gives the workers a very strong negotiation position. so no need for strikes.
There is a reason for this in the countries history. In 1918 there was a massive strike, after a series of external and internal shocks like the food shortages during WW1 or the Spanish flu. From a total population of 3.8 million people up to 250'000 went on strike in just two days. The military was set in motion to ensure inner peace, but the soldiers were not trained for peace keeping. In the town of Grenchen, a group of soldiers opend fire and killed three people.
This was a turning point in Swiss history. In the aftermath of this tragedy many reforms took place, like establishing important social security systems for ensuring industrial peace or introducing strikter rules for the domestic deployment of military forces. It took years to reach consensus on certain topics and even more time for implementing new rules and regulations, in case of a state pension for retired workers on a federal level up until 1948, but nearly everyone could agree on one thing: Never again should a tragedy like this be allowed to happen again. The changes that were made then shaped parts of the reality in our everyday life today.
Well, and on the other hand (as seen in the footage) it´s not so long ago that only men were allowed to vote. And I mean: 80 years later compared to real developed democracys!
And by the way: Austrias heritage tax rate is 0,0% (which I personally don´t support, but anyway). Nevertheless: Yes, yes, yes. Swiss trains are off the scale---the best.
The shady banking deals helped the Swiss have a spring board to success. Let’s not forget and deny that history. It’s not good to White-wash history that way.
exactly --------
One factor for Switzerlands wealth that is always overlooked is also how well cared for everything is!!! I am swiss and I have traveled to over 30 countries all over the world, and one thing that always stuck out to me even in „rich“ countries like Australia, the US or England is how swiss people keep everything spotlessly clean and well maintained at all times. We repair broken fences, patch cracks in walls, recycle everything than can be recycled, touch up paint on houses and even keep the grass edged of the roads tidy. Being mindful of what you have, taking good care and taking pride in fixing things yourself is ingrained into our brains from a very young age. So yes, we are rich, but we also don‘t waste our wealth and sqander our ressources. 🙂 👍 THAT is what helps us STAY rich.
Sounds like my kind of country! Moving from the US to Germany this year. Can't wait to explore your postcard perfect country.
Ändlig emol e Video über uns, wo nit numme Trivia und Vorurteil uffzellt ! I ha se zuefällig gfunde und se grad abonniert, well si das wo si verzellt au wirgglig recherchiert het ! Was me sunscht so uff RUclips umme-n-isch , isch ächt schwach ! Bi au viel ummekoo und cha Di Votum numme understütze (Swiss talked in the canton of Basel)
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Finally a Video about us, which doesn’t just consist of Trivia and prejudices ! I found her by chance and subscribed immediately, because what she’s talking about is fact based and really researched ! Amazing how crappy a lot of videos about Switzerland and its people and political system are on RUclips ! Like you, I’ve been around the world, too ; and I wholly subscribe to your point of view
And...Switzerland is not CORRUPT like uk.
Uk is a Dump compared with Switzerland
It wouldn't be well cared, orderly and safe without a strong base welfare
I have never seen so much graffiti as there is in Switzerland. If that went away it would be perfect
Another interesting particularity of Switzerland is its executive branch.
The country is not ruled by a single king/president/prime minister like almost everywhere else.
Instead, a federal council of 7 equal members assumes the executive power (the president position rotates every year and is purely ceremonial).
Members are elected from different parties, meaning the council never really swing from left to right.
And since no party or individual can control the whole council, there is no easy way to have a backsliding democracy like we see in a lot of countries these days : the only way would be for the Swiss population to elect a single party to the Federal Assembly which is quite unlikely with a fully proportional system.
Also there are no term limits and they are culturally never voted out. So they usually stay in office until they step down at different intervals. So again, this maintains stability, as at no point will more than 2 or max 3 of them be new.
Not to mention the fact that there is a mandatory retirement age and there are no lifetime appointments in the judiciary.
The US could learn a lot from Switzerland...
@@SwissPGO Rzecz w tym, że się uczyły 2 wieki temu. Od tamtej pory i USA i Szwajcaria przeszły bardzo długą stronę i stoją przed zupełnie innymi wyzwaniami, choć jedno z nich ma taką samą nazwę: Unia Europejska. Ale nawet w tym zakresie to są zupełnie różne wyzwania.
@@robertrusiecki9033 I'm not fluent in polish, but I understood you refer to challenges with the EU. I worked in multiple EU countries, and although it is not perfect, most European nations would individually be worse off without being part of the EU. Brexit is a good example: it's not getting better in Britain since they left. Maybe time will tell. Switzerland has agreements with the EU, but I don't see it fully joining it: we swiss like our direct democracy too much for that to happen anytime soon.
The problem is that even if you look critically at Switzerland and making a doc like this, it still sounds like a promotion movie of Switzerland. Everything is true about what you have said. I left the Netherlands more then 20 years ago, also a very rich and well organized country, but Switzerland is just next level.
I am Swiss and I can tell you that yes, Switzerland is maybe rich, but not all the Swiss people. We also help a lot other countries when they need help (sold some of tha bank's gold to help Greece, sending good in Ucraine...). I am happy you feel good here
Swiss public transport is pure perfection!
It really is.
No doubt: I lived in the Swiss countryside for a couple of years and whilst we had a car for convenience, I did my daily commute by public transport: The bus passed every half hour from 6 am to 11:30 pm and took me to my train station, where I could just grab a coffee and a croissant and could spend the rail ride reading the paper (and a book on the homeward journey) - so much more pleasant than driving.
Right now, living in Zurich, I don't even have a car any more.
After the first railway boom a number of private railway companies were competing on just a few railway connections leaving most of the rest of the country without any railway infrastructure at all. Accumulating too much debt even bigger companies got into serious risk of bankrupcy. As a result the federal government decided to take over most of the railway companies - partly to increase the railway network across the entire country. Switzerland benefited of that move so much that two initiatives in favour of privatising the Swiss railway company SBB-CFF-FFS have failed in national referendae despite the SBB rarely generating net profits.
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl There can be no doubt: Public infrastructure belongs in public hands. Actually, Switzerland is a great example for that: Not only the railways, the roads and other public transport, but also water and energy are in public hands and offer far better value for money than in the EU where people can freely choose their provider.
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vlWe did the exact opposite in Germany in the 90th with the expected results now.
Now we don’t have any form of working railway system any more.
I would also add to the factors the excellent role of trade and crafts teaching in Switzerland: Unlike in Germany, where apprentices are often just used as cheap labour, learning a trade in Switzerland, is taken dead serious. On the other hand: Salaries for people, who learned a trade, are highly competitive against of those people with an academic background and the same applies to the social prestige associated. As a result, the workforce is highly skilled, not only with their brains, but also with their hands.
Greetings from Zurich!
In the U.S. people that work in the trades are looked upon as failures. Social media personalities are looked upon as heroes. Yes, the United States is in it's death throes...
and after an apprenticeship, there are many ways to take education further... professional Matura, Fachhochschulen, Passerelle, Meisterprüfungen....
the apprenticeship system is certainly a lot more relevant to Swiss success than some very expensive schools for rich kids.
I was looking for someone to mention that! Thank you und grüess ebefalls us Züri
Doing a 'Stifti' or apprentiship in Switzerland is by no means a dead end either. Basically you have the practical part of work in the company that hired you and a theoretical at school for roughly 1-2 days per week. The subjects heavily depend on what you're learning and there are classes for each job. As example, i work in the field of civil engineers which is diversified into heating systems, ventilation and sanitary/gas-systems, each being their own full job. There are some shred subjects like Maths, general knowledge (mostly language classes, laws etc) and some individual ones like fresh water, waste water, gas for sanitary engineers.
There's a program called 'Berufsmatura' (employment-matura?) in which you can get a degree that allows you to enter a university and continue to deepen your studies. It can be done side-by-side with the apprentiship (quite hard) or as a standalone.
Nowadays many companies also seek to hire their own apprentices after their apprentiship (usually 3-4 years) comes to an end because workforce is important and in many branches actually suffer from not finding enough people able to work.
That means the 'simple' workes with 'only' an apprentiship can still often discuss with university people at a similar level of understanding. For the apprentiship-people it's often the more practical part and the university ones the more theoretical aspects. Both are needed to bring a project to proper fruition, as i see day after day working on really cool projects. My current favorite being the garage for about 150 electric busses (the big ones) for an entire cities and agglomerations infrastructure. And that on a 'simple' apprentiship ;)
Ashton, I'm sure you already know, I love your fact-based, outstanding videos. I trust you and your research. But this video has a special feature that I have never seen in any other video on any other RUclips channel I came across. In the credits you publish your sources, so that anyone who doubts can check for themselves how you came to your conclusions. This level of professionalism is really impressive and takes your expertise to another level. I am surprised that this has not yet been acknowledged in any other comment. A highly appreciated little detail. I just love it.
She's trained as a scholar. I trained many students myself how to do research and selecting appropriate sources and listing (referencing) them becomes a habit of every good researcher. Good youtubers do the same.
Publication of sources, whilst laudable and an excellent example to other RUclipsrs, does not in itself guarantee the quality of the subsequent analysis.
Other people could no doubt look at exactly the same sources and come up with very different conclusions.
Analysis is strongly affected by the analyst's personal views, assumptions, politics, upbringing, education, home culture, and a host of other influences.
For instance, this video has a strong bias towards the unquestioned assumptions that neutrality, low taxes, centre-right politics, and competition are all undoubted positives. Something that other analysts from different cultures might well disagree with.
The source data is only the starting point.
@@SwissPGO I know that she is. It is a basic requirement and I think became a habit to do it on her way to getting the PhD. With my comment I just wanted to show her my appreciation for adding her used sources at the end of the video. While I've seen it on other "big company" fact based productions, I've never seen something alike on youtube, so it just struck me in a positive way.
@@paulhaynes8045Is it bias or is Switzerland just one of the examples where neutralism, capitalism, competition and relatively low taxes etc produces one of the highest standards of living the planet. The data, seems to point to fact rather than bias.
@@barryhaley7430 it's not the fact that Switzerland is rich that I'm disputing, it's the assumption that there can only be one reason for that, that it is commendable, and that it 'proves' anything. There is a great deal of prosperity in other places too - Russia, China, Singapore, etc. But I don't think the culture/politics/government of any of those places could be put forward as positive, or something to be emulated.
Regarding big Swiss companies - Credit Suisse collapsed last year and was taken over by UBS.
Though one has to say it was mainly due to a loss in trust, caused by countless bad decisions that caused its stock market value to plummet and not due to a lack in capital.. guess it proves that even heaps of money can't buy you a good sense for business..
@@cinnamoon1455 CS was already almost a meme:) - If there was a scandal in banking world you could bet that CS is in it as well. And in banking world lost of trust means lost of everything. CS was bleeding money - otherwise they wouldn't have to ask for state for loan
And Nestlé is one of the most evil businesses out there
@@Spido68_the_spectator the problem with companies like that is that they use their subcompanies in other countries to circumvent Swiss laws. There was actually an attempt to change our laws to prevent that from happening just last year but as you can probably guess said big companies invested a lot of money to prevent that from happening and it sadly didn't pass. One way things like this are often forced upon our very conservative and lenient towards businesses majority, is when the EU adopts such laws and Switzerland is forced to follow suit. This then often forces them to accept stronger terms than the laws they fought in the vote, which I find pretty hilarious..
And ABB is half Swedish last I checked.
Wait... I live in Switzerland. Where is all my promised money?!
Why are the hard working, almost poor Swiss forgotten?
@@annaketola7223 Right? They show Switzerland look almost as the Paradise, but not for anyone it is!
Our bosses are keeping our "average wealth" safe for us and I'm pretty sure my landlord is helping them. 😑
Your money is in a Swiss bank account. To access it, follow these instructions:
1. Become a financial account manager in a large firm.
2. Spend 10 years handling the accounts of other people's money.
3. Leave the firm and start your own.
4. Get rich having your employees handle other people's money.
5. Send me a check.
You have to learn to think like a Swiss.
@@Matthew_Loutner I was born here and never heard those secrets. Thank you for your wise words.
Those sources listed at the end was *chefs kiss* perfection. You are always specific, well informed and backed by evidence but having that final page earns so much respect in my opinion
Love taking the train from Italy to Germany, passing Switzerland. There is something magical about entering the Gotthard tunnel soaring at 180 km/h and passing by beautiful lakes and majestic mountain ranges.
There are lakes in the Gotthard tunnel? Woah, the Swiss have taken train travel to another level.
Perhaps somebody came up with the idea to make tunnel running a little bit more interesting. Instead of looking at boring concrete walls they built a Swiss Miniature in there. Grandious.
I have seen some simple shadow picture projections in a tunnel on the La Mure museum train near Grenoble.
@@user-sm3xq5ob5d nah, that happens before and after the Gotthard tunnel 😅.
Swiss trains are indeed fantastic. One train ride shaped me literally, when I was a young student traveling from Luzern to Lugano. At some time in a small station popped Italian name under the German name. The next stop, after passing some tunnel, Italian name was atop, and German on the bottom. Next station German was no more. Only Italian name was in use. Welcome to Tessin/Ticino! This seemingly so simple, so obvious was in dealing with national groups of people in the framework of one Confederation Helvetica impressed me and I believe, it should be embraced by all in Europe as an example. My favorite train ride: Bermina Express in Graubünden aka Grischun (Romansh) or Grigioni (Italian) St. Moritz to Tirano , Italy.
To be precise: If you are running through the Gotthard Base Tunnel - you will run at 200km/h ;-)
@@markusrothbauer5156 True, I think that was the maximum speed. But most of the time is was around 180 km/h, which is still impressive considering we're crossing the Alps!
My great-grandparents were born to rather poor farmers in Switzerland and were encouraged to emigrate to places where they could buy enough farm land. Some of the siblings (14 surviving children) went to the Netherlands, some to the USA and Canada and some to various countries in South America.
In just two generations how things have changed!
Los ROBINSONES SUIZOS
Poor Swiss farmers from my canton (Fribourg) emigrated to Brazil in the early 1800s. They left because there were apparently more opportunities elsewhere, Switzerland was poor for a long time. They ended up founding a city in Brazil, called Nova Friburgo.
Almost ll the countries you say your Swiss ancestors moved to have experienced a sharp swerve to the political left in recent years or decades. In Switzerland, the conservative right-wing party has been the largest and strongest political party in Switzerland for decades. Hmm, I wonder if anyone can detect a lesson embedded in these facts... 😉 😂
As I pointed out above, One must be care about throwing the word Liberal around when dealing with European politics. Liberal in American Politics means the exact opposite from what it means in European politics. The US is the only place in the world that is different in it's meaning of Liberal as we understand it. Everywhere else it represents the exact opposite! In your mind you need to transpose the meaning. When dealing with European countries. What's socialist, or Labour parties are what you normally think of as liberal in the US. But, Europe it's actually the opposite! That's why they blend the Liberal and Conservative together.. Now do you get it? That's what she was trying to tell you in the video! It's no so in Germany! That's why they pay a higher tax! The liberals (European style) would do what they did in Swiss, lower to tax to attack more Billionaires! Just like the Billionaires here in the US want to do. The difference is the Billionaires in the US want you with tin cup in your hand begging on the street! Unlike Switzerland. She even said, I have to eat my sandwich and go back to Germany! Germany is actually doing a better job taking care of it's people. But, then again, War never came to Switzerland! did it? That should tell you something?
My family was forced to leave Switzerland, because of the Political persecution, and religious bad treatment. Reformation bad treatment. And, poor were all over Swiss 3-400 years ago. @@christheswiss390
Same here!! I wish they would have stayed!
Sunday morning, a cup of tea and Type Ashton.
A good start.
Sipping my coffee as we speak! Cheers!
A good start indeed! Thanks
I think there is a small, but important addition to the topic of the tax competition between the cantons. Yes, the cantons compete for lower taxes, but there is a certain financial equalisation (Nationaler Finanzausgleich) between the cantons on a national level. So richer cantons support poorer cantons. That way the tax competition is not simply a ruinous race to the bottom. The same is true for the municipalities and cities within the cantons.
Is it fair to support poorer cantons? What is Citizens opinion on that matter? That support is posible only now when all country is rich, but in other scenarios what would happend?
It is a very welcomed system in general, but of course not without discussion. Ther's a constant debate over the amounts, but on the common ground that the finance balance is a must for the political stability (from which everyone is profiting). Frankly, the inequality exists, e.g. canton Zug is way richer then canton Jura.
It is a social aspect to it. so is health care. you have to pay (quite a lot) even if u dont ever go to a doctor. i think it is important to allow everyone a decent life in order to maintain peace and keep criminality low
I dont understand: this system should sharpen the „race to the bottom“ if I am a Swiss canton, I will just lower taxes - if/when my tax income suffers, I will be compensated anyway…?
@@jbruck6874 That would be true if a canton would get a full budget compensation. But that does not happen.
I can give you an example. I live in the canton of St. Gallen. Total tax revenue for the year 2022 was 1.79 billion Swiss francs. Additional the canton got a contribution of 323 million Swiss francs from the financial equalisation between the cantons.
A tax revenue of 1.83 billion Swiss francs and a contribution of 307 million Swiss francs are budgeted for the year 2023.
With the contribution alone, the canton could not provide the necessary services for it's inhabitants.
Also, the flag is a big plus.
🥁
And the history of how it came about. Who knows that it actually represents Lake Lucerne and not Chritianity? And its use for the Red Cross with inverted colors from Henry Dunant as a symbol of neutrality. That is what those Muslims didn''t understand who created the Red Halfmoon organization. Ludicrous!
Although I hate that so many - mostly US and Canadian - places don’t know the difference between a red cross and a white cross
@@nudlezo.4627?
That joke is somewhat depressing for Austrians.
It is safe to say that Switzerland's system is better than Germany's system. They outperform us in almost every metric. Therefore, we shouldn't be ignorant or too arrogant to accept that and we should try to adapt some of the good things in Switzerland to make our own country better.
Switzerland like Luxembourg could not sustain the type of their economies without their neighbours. Germany somehow also but in a different way.
@@olli1407Germany has an export economy
Yes, Germany should try to be more Swiss-like. The trains in Germany are not as reliable as those in Switzerland.
@@3581tossit As a German who knows Switzerland and swiss people from business a bit - I do not support this idea. There is a reason why people are as they are and it makes no sense to pretend something else. This is not about better or worse.
@@olli1407 you shouldn't take pride, as a German, if your trains are unreliable. the Swiss are more precise now than the Germans.
Interesting. They call Switzerland the richest country in the world and Italy is considered poor. However Swiss can’t afford to buy a house but over 85% of us Italians own a house and majority without a mortgage and many with wife staying at home. What are the standards for being consider rich? 😅
If you compare Swiss salaries to Swiss (domestic) prices, you'll get a purchasing power similar to other "developed" countries. The thing is that the exchange rate between the Swiss Franc and other major currencies is rather unbalanced, because of the high demand for the CHF. And that makes the country look both very rich and very expensive to outsiders. The Swiss National Bank spends a lot of money trying to keep the exchange rate from getting even more out of balance, but not always successfully. And while this makes it easy for the Swiss to buy things abroad, it is quite hard to sell Swiss made products in other countries, because they can't compete with the prices in other countries. That's one reason why many Swiss companies target the luxury segments where customers are willing to pay extra money for a "Swiss quality" label. Other Swiss companies have moved most of their production to other countries and only keep their headquarters within the country.
It also might explain why the average R&D budget of Swiss companies is so high. If you can't compete with the price, one way to compete is with innovation.
Switzerland GDP ppp par capita is over 88,000 higher then almost any other country i. The world
Swissfrank is not locked to the YankeeDollar
@@hasinabegum1038 but prices are also way higher.
Love how Switzerland halted the war on drugs to decriminalize, educate and treat. Actual harm reduction.
meh idk i still know many ppl here that have payed well over 1k for possesing over like 5g of weed
@@alterego2421 Not in the last 10 or 15 years tho. If you possess less than 10 grams you pay a CHF 100 fine and thats it. No criminal record or court case either.
I think the commenter didnt exactly mean weed anyway. We arent anything special in that regard. Most likely they are referring to the controlled distribution of heroin, starting in the 90s as a response to the then massive heroin crisis and the Platzspitz/Letten open drug scenes. That was a truly novel and innovative approach at the time and still is pretty special to this day.
@@Soff1859 idk bro 2017 hesch chönne ghopst werde
@@alterego2421 i bi definitiv dass i vor 2017 verwütscht worde und nur mit de 100 fr büesst worde bin. Wenn du meh als die buess becho hesch, denn isch no öppis anders gsi. Villicht bisch unter 18ni gsi oder autogfahre oder bim deale verwütscht worde oder so. Eifach nur max 10g weed für über 18 jährigi git sit 2013 nur no d buess und süsch nix.
@@alterego2421 its still illegal but you dont have to go to court for it since 2013, so its a just a low fine. but yes before the judge could decide on your fine and that varied a lot and could be very expensive.
As a tourist in Switzerland I once cycled across the country (actually across all the Alpine countries from Nice to Wien). My experience was that I was cycling in a non-real world, everythnig was unrealisticly perfect, the grass was greener, the sky was bluer if you know what I mean. But it was harder to get along with the locals, they seemed a bit distant, not so communicative compared to the French, Italain or Austrians. At Grimselpass parking lot I met a bunch of teenagers (they seemed) having fun, all came with some Lambos, Porches and stuff like that. It was surreal as well.
An other time I traveled by car and once the police stopped me in the middle of a roundabout, packed all my stuff out of the car, searched every inch, made me doing an alcohol test for nothing. I think this was all about my foreign numberplate :).
The car stop 'n' frisk thing likely happened because one of the cops was a trainee or new to the force and was shown the ropes on how to procede with a thorough check in the field. I have been stopped a number of times and after politely responding to the question 'Where are you heading?' I was let go without ever having to produce an ID or driver's license etc. like in the US.
Yes, probably. I had only been stopped by police in some Balkan countires berfore where every time it turned out they just needed some Euros... So maybe I'm a bit prejudiced against police in general.
It’s Porsche not Porche. And driving on Swiss mountain roads was fun until too many Motorcycles showed up.
Strangely, I don't know if I could live in such a perfect place.
It was harder to get to the locals? When I cycle, hike, ski, I get to talk almost every time to bus drivers, farmers, other travellers. Have you left the comfort zone along the main roads? For sociological findings, you must inquire at least 1000 persons. How can fellowmen of a country, which is one of the most globalised, be reluctant to communicate? In Switzerland, cycling is as popular as mountaineering, skiing, so you were not considered as special. Also consider that many who are doing menial jobs are foreigners.
I feel very fortunate to live in the black forest just a few minutes from the swiss border. Switzerland is next level in everything it seems. Great cities, great transportation, the Alps, beauty everywhere. Just an amazing place.
With low tax rates I was wondering how they have so much money…they’re not spending 40% on the military so there’s money for schools, etc.
though it is beautiful, so I totally understand why the rich like to be there.
The are spending soo much on military… every year 12 billion in debt because of that shit. The Military service is also mandatory. that’s why I’m in the military rn….
@@youngthugger8736The United States spends over $800 billion a year on military spending, and $2 trillion deficit spending(new debt) every year.
Fun fact: I did a tour in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland where they mentioned the money gesture you do with your fingers and thumb rubbing together came from the area. Back in the day that's how they tested the quality of the Linen produced in the area.
You still use that gesture with US paper currency. Its texture is quite unique since it has a small percentage of cotton mixed into the paper. It is one of the many ways to spot counterfeit bills.
Dear Ashton, you did an excellent video on what makes Switzerland rich. But what you did not say is how the Swiss manage to externalize certain environmental and social costs. Please also do a video on that ;)
What do you mean? I'm interested
@@Morjixxo For starters: Why is CH not in the NATO and/or the EU? Why does CH not offer universal healthcare? Who does the „dirty“ jobs there? How is the flow of goods into and out of the country organized, where do most of the wares come from? Can poor people afford cheap flat rents or are they more or less forced to emigrate? Does Switzerland give shelter to asylum seekers? If yes, under what conditions? And more…
@@dr.paulwilliam7447Switzerland is not in EU because the people does not want to be part of a tyrannical bureaucratic moloch.
Switzerland is not in NATO because of neutrality, and this is a very good thing.
People here get good social services, beggars and homeless people are rare.
many of todays Swiss citizens came here as refugees - or thrir ancestors - the ex Jugoslavs, the Tamils, the Hungarians, Eritreans, Ukrainians... they get humble but sufficient provision when they arrive.
@@barbaraseiler9750This is either straight up misinformation to lure people or a very biased and chauvinistic opinion, which in eaither way doesn't represent anything.
@@Prosper_teblanche ahem what do you mean?
Swiss here:
Kudos to you! Very well researched and delivered!
I didn't pick up a single mistake... except maybe that Crédit Suisse is not an independent company anymore, and will mostly disappear in the forced merger with UBS.
same for me, but the tax transfert for real estate can be much different and higher depeding the cantons. in Vaud we're arround 5%
@@iratanokodiak that is correct! It is too high and he hempers the liquidity of the market.
I’m at the beginning of this video but am making the prediction that being geographically protected, and choosing to remain neutral in conflicts helps avoid spending on wars. Also living in a good trade environment with so many neighbors to trade with likely helps.
Certainly our territory makes it unattractive as a place to conquer and a place to go through. Think of the flatland in Central Europe that has seen armies go through over centuries (Ukraine, Poland,…).
It's possibly not entirely wrong to assume that some of the attitudes of the Swiss are shared by Baden-Württemberg too.
Just yesterday I was looking at a table of the 10 companies in Germany applying for most of the patents. Four of them are located in Baden-Württemberg: Bosch, Mercedes, Porsche and ZF. Baden-Württemberg and Bayern are significantly ahead in that regard - not only due to such big companies.
I've also noticed similar affinities for similar industries in my neck of BW. In Freiburg and the surrounding area we have Stryker, Pfizer and Sick.
@@TypeAshton Actually the industrialisation of the textile industry was sparking the economic development in Baden, Württemberg, Hohenzollern and Vorarlberg too. In Württemberg that influence was particularly strong in the area of the Swabian Alb (Schwäbische Alb) and there are still a few such companies there like Hugo Boss in Metzingen near Reutlingen (which once was one of the centres of textile industries) or Trigema in Balingen. Building machines for textile production was an important element and fundament of south-west Germany becoming what it is today because the expertise could be transfered to other areas of production.
Manufacture of clocks was another important area of industrial activity, particularly in the region of the Black Forrest.
Since farming was an important component of the economy mechanisation of agriculture became another important contributor to industrialisation - eg. many small manufacturers of tractors and machines to be used in combination with them.
Some clarification is due here in regard to the patent statistics.
Since those companies are registered as applicants for those patents the numbers are cumulative and do not exactly represent the number of inventions made in Baden-Württemberg.
For example inventions made in Hildesheim or Bremen will probably be counted as from Baden-Württemberg because the seat of Bosch GmbH is in Gerlingen near Stuttgart. That's a flaw of all patent statistics.
I have to admit, I am filthy but not rich (yet). However growing up in Zürich where I grew up, went to school, did military service and studied (Uni - ZH), I felt average and likely didn' appreciate my country the way I do now after spending a quarter of a century in the US. (20 in LA, 5 in Boston). I only wish I had come back home 10 years prior to 2019. I had to rebuild my life here from scratch and commit to a complete career change which I thought was going to be a pieace of cake. However the Swiss tech industry has gotten extremely picky and the bar to entry is set very high for anyone that can't produce a formal education in the field. After talking to many friends and colleagues (actaully all colleagues, since 'friend' is always associated with 'boyfriend' ) the social mobility aspect is absolutely phenomenal. I dug my heels in, busted my behind and I can say that as of today things are finally beginnig to happen. Dedication and a good (not necessarily hard) work ethic gets you very far in Switzerland. Just about in any field there are plenty of opportunities to grow and move on up.
how to find the jobs? I am an MRI technologist in the US and I am really sick of the corporate healthcare.
@@anniesshenanigans3815Learning one of the national languages is a good start.
how much do you earn?
Another carefully researched and presented show, including sources at the end!!. As a born Swiss who has lived here for close to 60 years (with about 5 years abroad on multiple continents) I mostly agree to your analysis. One of the big reasons of the wealth in Switzerland today that you did not mention is international commodities trading and logistics. Check out the international value streams of coffee, cocoa, precious metals, etc. Some of these have risen only in the past 10 or 15 years and create an ENORMOUS wealth, e.g in the Zug and Geneva areas. Furthermore, e.g Google has created a major research centre in Zürich with thousands of employees, who all pay taxes and spend money.
R&D centers are the reason for the highest expat salaries. It's not just google, 3M is near Burgdorf, in the Bümpliz you find multiple medical research facilities of non-swiss pharma giants in some relatively innocent buildings. (Climate Control Units this size clearly say LAB, not office).
@@beyondEVyeah, most notable is Basel which has the highest average salaries in Switzerland (Pharma). Google is simply in Zürich to hire directly off ETH (the only top 10 school outside the US). The tax environment, high HDI and QOL are supporting factors to facilitate on boarding of talent. Simple as that.
I’m a genuine Swiss, born in Zurich, my parents and all my grandparents were Swiss, i can assure you i am not rich, there are billionaires and millionaires living here but they are in the minority.
Wow, finally a content creator that actually has an actual clue about Switzerland - and then some. She's also well-spoken and comes across as outgoing and vivacious. AND she understands the basics of economics. AND she's extremely easy on the eyes. Doesn't get much better!
This is one of the best videos on the prosperity of Switzerland that I've come across in the vast wastelands that are YT. 😊👏👏
Now I'm subscribed and looking forward to viewing your other videos...
One topic u failed to mention are the number of tax dodging US companies that have "shell" European HQ's in Switzerland 🇨🇭 that siphon their profits via Switzerland to Panama and other Tax havens to avoid paying taxes in both the EU and the USA. I used to work for such a business.
US companies do it in Panama, cayman Island, Bahamas and other Caribbean tax heavens
In what way is Switzerland a tax haven?
Actually, it's Ireland that provides heaven for US tax paying companies
@@olivierl2172 It's not so much the country as a whole, but some cantons have extremely sweet individual tax deals for corporations and high valued individuals, which is cannibalising the global tax revenue.
@olivierl2172 I didn't say its a tax haven... Read again. EU shell companies with HQ's in Switzerland... pass their eu profits through Switzerland to Tax havens such as Panama
In summary a well researched video.
One thing to mention is when it comes to energy and supposed complete dependency on external sources.
This is not completely true. It is for energy contained in fuels, but not for electricity.
Most electricity produced is of renewable sources, 62%.
The lions share 56% for hydro-electric power, wind and solar 6%. 35% is from two nuclear power plants, and the share of all combustibles, including biomass and garbage incineration is 3% in electricity production. Oil and coal are essentially non existent in the mix, perhaps at a couple of back-up generators at hospitals or a listed historic power plant.
So except for the uranium for the nuclear power plants there is no dependence on imported fuels for power generation.
Almost all trains in Switzerland run on electric overhead lines, and trains have a share of 38% in all transportation in Switzerland, this part doesn't rely on imported fuels either.
However, in the summer Switzerland exports electricity, they produce more power than they use. In the winter hydro electric produces less power and power usage is higher, so they need to import electricity in this period. The balance is zero however.
Note; several sites show different percentages, I took those from the Schweizer Bundesamt für Energie and the Verband Schweizerischer Elektrizitätsunternehmen, and averaged between these two.
Filthy Rich? A pejorative tagline, no? The Swiss work very hard, long work weeks in comparison to many European neighbors. The culture is one of duty and trust. The government is quasi-direct democracy, where the people hold control. The constitution has a formal requirement that immigrants integrate into Swiss society. The government is much more devolved than you imply. For instance, citizenship originates at the community level (D: die Gemeinde, F: les communes). Basel, Switzerland.
Also, they invest heavily in infrastructure, with a very long payback horizon. And once they have built something, they keep it maintained. The downside of this is traffic jams due to road construction.
The train system is awesome- but Switzerland has the second best “Public Transport System” in the world - including:
Trains 🚆
Busses 🚌
Trams 🚋
Ships 🚢
Funiculars
Cable Cars 🚠
All of them with short transfer times…
let me guess: best one is japan?
@@FredericAndresArt
It’s said it is
as long as switzerland will stay conservative and accept only european and high qualified migrants, switzerland will be fine. But if they start to take too much extra european migrants without qualification, as france and many others did rn, then it's over.
Gday Ashton, thank you for introducing me to Switzerland. I hope I can visit one day. I’ve added to my bucket list.
Great video ❤
Not being at war for centuries and not having to be rebuild two times within 3 decades gave Switzerland a leg up compared to the rest of the world. Not being at war all the time is good actually.
The VAT in Germany has two values, 7% for basic needs and 19% for other goods.
And the most important thing to the political continuety in Switzerland is of course their concordance democracy.
Every party, that is elected gets participation in the government, so socialists, conservatives, liberals, right- or left wing, greens, all ar part of the government and have at least on ministry.
Think about half of the ministries would be led by democrats and the other half by republicans, and both constantly have to agree on any decision that is made.
Everytime you can't agree, you have to ask the whole country.
Not entirely true: The Green party is kept out of the government, whilst the smaller liberal party is in it. But basically, you're right.
That's an enviroment in which extemists cannot really thrive. They might try to abuse it but a situtation like today in the US would never be possible.
@@barbarossarotbartexcept for WEF Corporateism with their Lobby Groups who are corrupted to the core.............most citizens are absolut unaware how they get played meanwhile the rich poor gap widens fast .......but is still providing a comfortable life for most thats the the main difference compared to other countrys.
Will be interesting to see when it is no more necessary for the real Rulers to keep up the Fassade
In Switzerland, we also have different rates. The regular rate is 8.1%, but it is only 2.6% for food products (except alcohol), or medicaments.
You write: "Every party, that is elected gets participation in the government...".
This is obviously incorrect. Only the largest 4 political parties are represented in the council of 7 ministers that govern the country. But They ARE represented, no matter whether the left-wing feels they should be shunned or not.
This means that in Germany, the right-wing, conservative AFD would HAVE to be included in the government to counter-balance the massive and country- and democracy-destroying swing to the left the country has taken in the past 30 years. 😉
"Following the French July Revolution in 1830, a number of large assemblies in Switzerland were held calling for new cantonal constitutions. The modifications to the cantonal constitutions made during this period of "Regeneration" remains the basis of the current-day cantonal constitutions. Vaud introduced the legislative popular initiative in 1846. Berne introduced the legislative optional referendum in the same year.
The political crisis of the Regeneration period culminated in the Sonderbund War of November 1847. As a result of the Sonderbund War, Switzerland was transformed into a federal state, with a constitution promulgated on 12 September 1848. This constitution provided for the cantons' sovereignty, as long as this did not impinge on the Federal Constitution. The creation of a bicameral assembly was consciously inspired by the United States Constitution, the National Council and Council of States corresponding to the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively.
Well researched video. Two thumbs up from me for sure.
I have been to Schweiz (Switzerland) twice. Such a beautiful country.
People are very wealthy overall, but it costs a lot to live there.
Typical erroneous view of a foreigner. If you earn double as much and pay 50% more, you are still better off. All high-income countries are expensive, except resources-rich countries. So go to India for low prices/low salaries and Katar for lower prices/higher salaries.
@@HansGrob -- Not an erroneous view at all, sir. I have been to almost 25 different countries so far - with another six or seven on my list before the end of this year. I totally understand the relationship between salaries and expenses. Sorry if you misread what I wrote.
Somebody migrating from India to Canada will have a rough time, even though they make more money. Likewise, my wife and I (being from the USA) can retire quite comfortably on a modest American pension if we decided to stay in Mexico or Costa Rica. Our situation is different, though, as we won't be seeking employment. There is not a direct comparison, at least not in our case. ( Essentially, we would not live nearly as well in Switzerland or Denmark as we can in Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain or even in Chile. )
@@1VaDude For me, Monaco would be expensive, but I don't make a general rule out of it and publish in public. Prices are an indicator of scarcity. Thus you can conclude that Switzerland is either small or sought after. It's economically not sensical to place non-productive persons there. Good for you that there are lowly productive countries. But they are also nearly by definition not well organised and creative. By the way, there are remoter regions in CH with cheap housing. And the other services are also not so expensive, else we would be poor.
@HansGrob -- We were comparing different circumstances too. My wife and I are "seasoned citizens" and aren't looking for a career. Our reasons & criteria regarding a place to live are not the same as most other people.
You will find that retired Americans will place a different value on what is "affordable" than somebody from India who might be seeking to emigrate for better economic opportunity.
As for scarcity, that's applicable to within the US as well. If we wanted to live in Denver or Washington DC, we would barely get by.......but we could live much better in New Mexico, Kentucky or even most of Florida orTexas.
P.S. I have never been to Monaco, but hear that it is beautiful.
the value just isn't there, in spite of all the positives
Belgium industrialized ca 1800 as well as Switzerland, but had a less fortunate later history.
that Suisse > is xxl good to clean "dirty" money for severals decades...
Pretty sure the jury is still out over which one of the two is second.
Switzerland gained an advantage by being more difficult to invade in direct comparison with Belgium two times
@@eljanrimsa5843 the russians will go soon in those impregnables montains ...They are just warming up in the don Bass.. All propheties are annoncing that...The futur is existing indeed...some mediums ve acces to it
Absolutely. Greetings from Zaire.
Small countries in Western Europe are all rich. See Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Andorra.
Safe-havens for tax evaders.
@@Perspectiveon Most unfortunately, Switzerland is no tax heaven anymore!
Switzerland is no big country... but unlike some confetti-states, it is a fully-developed state, with universities (several of them among the very best ones in the world), an army, an Air Force... even a (very small but existing) navy! Armed forces that are, proportionally to the population of the country, 3 times bigger than all the US armed forces combined.
If Switzerland were a US state, it would rank #12 in population, between New Jersey and Virginia. In GDP, it would rank #8, between Ohio and Georgia.
Are you ready to compare New Jersey or Georgia with Andorra? or even Luxembourg?
I have the feeling you might benefit from studying, in a first phase, then traveling to Europe!
Not andorra
An interesting fact: Switzerland's system was a precursor both for the USA, which in the 18th century partially modeled its republican system on Swiss solutions, and two centuries later for the EU, which modeled its supranational institutions on Swiss relations between the federal government and the cantons. It's hard to believe that this tiny country shakes the world so much...
No. The Swiss system was only comparable to certain US States in development, when Americans conquested the Wild West. And in Switzerland, they changed their own system to suit the Swiss ambition to be a neutral power between the bigger countries around and to avoid civil war. However, the EU is also about being an economic and trade union. But, the Swiss aren't part of that.
As a German living not too far from Switzerland I've always seen that country as a kind of miniature model of Europe for example due to maintaining their different language communities.
In the case of the US, it's the other way around. The Swiss constitution was heavily inspired by the USA, which is also a very federal system. Switzerland as a "proper nation" is relatively young, founded after its last civil war in 1848. What I like about our politics here is that we seem to be less dogmatic and more pragmatic than other places in the world. For example, we agreed to a complete rewrite of our constitution in 1999 - something that seems unthinkable in the USA. Sure, this decision may have a lot to do with direct democracy that tends to create a mess over time, but I see it as a feature, not a bug.
@@herbybey7698 Szwajcaria jest republiką od XII wieku i Amerykanie przy pisaniu swojej konstytucji wzorowali się na republikańskich tradycjach Szwajcarii. Ashton mówiła o tym w filmiku o milicjach i dostępie do broni: ruclips.net/video/yqdT8-DaVk4/видео.html
@@robertrusiecki9033 What existed in the 12th century was nowhere close to what anyone would consider a republic. There was the mythical founding of core Switzerland (only 3 cantons) in 1291, but that was just a rather inconsequential confederacy. There were many conflicts in the following centuries, alliances forged and dismantled, wars fought over both religion and more worldly matters, external influences like Napoleon came and went, ... Anything resembling order and stability around here is a rather recent phenomenon.
Credit Suisse Group AG has been merged into UBS Group AG and the combined entity will operate as a consolidated banking group.
One more report about very rich Switzerland postcard. I live here and in my ancester there's probably "Guillaume/Wihelm Tell", or Divico the helvet celtic king who fought Cesar. So I assume it, I can live (well 🙂) with it, but next time...
That being said, I would liked to congratulate you for your channel, and for this report particularly. Your speaking style is clear, your argumentation is well built, synthetic. You mention your sources. The images, diagrams and movies are well choosen and adequate.
Bravo for this work. Either you are brillant or you spent hours documenting you subjects (or both). It's a pleasure to see and hear someone presenting subjects on such a pleasant manner, with structured and scientific background.
There's no swiss language, but in my region we would say : alles guete !
When you look at the whole of Europe, there is a large zone comprising north-western Italy, Eastern France (especially the regions bordering Switzerland and Germany) and the Paris Region, Southern Germany, the Rhine valley, the Low countries and southeastern England that have relative high per-capita incomes, and have had higher than average incomes compared to the rest of Europe, since at least the Middle Ages. Today there may be huge rustbelt areas in parts of Southern Belgium and the Ruhr, but they were very prosperous in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Two the the wealthiest countries in Europe, Luxembourg and Switzerland, happen to be in that high-income region. It would be interesting to know what geographical factors make that region so wealthy. It probably has something to do with having a mild climate, fertile soil, navigable rivers, a varied geography and being centrally located in Europe.
Don't underestimate religion influences. With the exception of Belgium and large parts of France, the major religion is of a protestant denomination.
@@apveening The southern half of that region is Catholic.
Please be aware that Switzerland, with the exceptions of the cities of Zurich, Basel and Geneva, was dirt poor up to around WW1.
The factor is no one that you mentioned (except central location). The Swiss agricultural soil is mostly good for 2 crops a year of... hay! The two leading factors are in fact 1) very high average education, including apprenticeship, 2) Political, and hence fiscal and legal stability. And those factors precisely started to dominated other countries' in the early 20th century.
But that's just my opinion.... an economist or sociologist might prove me wrong... although that would surprise me.
Yes, all a the region around the Alps are the most economically competitive. I think there is a commonality in the mentality. I grow up in nord west Italy and lived one year in Switzerland.
This coubtries spanning region is actually called 'the blue banana'. Go look it up! Its kinda interesting. :)
Greetings from Switzerland, excellent video loved it, everything is well explained and correct!
Just one thing the tax rates at 10:16 are maximum rates, no one pays those. The average rate you pay is about half of that!
Thank you for this wonderful good explained video about Switzerland!
Glad it was helpful!
Decentralization wasn’t a political decision. It’s an historical fact that came from the three first cantons, forced to unite against bigger threat. Then other regions joined the group and, due to local languages and cultures differences, it has been easier to stay in this initial setup and it worked out well. For now.
Switzerland is investing a lot in its education system (teachers and professors are very well paid and encouraged to continually improve their curriculum).
It's not working. There's a growing teacher shortage. My son attends Swiss public schools.
Staying away from wars for hundreds of years was the first and foremost circumstance
Hi Ashton.
Als always excellent done and researched, thank you. I have something to add. I lived and worked for 10 years in Switzerland and living now in Freiburg. In regards of foreigners in Switherland, they are mostly high educated to be allowed to be there.
And what the Swiss Government does it does not educate enoght doctors, because that is expensive, it recruits it from Germany or other good educated doctors, but mostly from Germany.
What I think is the most important part for the Swiss wealth, that everyone is responsible for his actions.
One example but it migth be not present now. As a cyclist I had a license plate on my bicicles and I could get fined until forbidden to ride a bike if I violate the rules. And there is no Beamtentum in Switzerland, as an officer you are responsible for what you are doing, as are the politicians.
And they make the laws for everybode, because everybode has the same rights and mostly possibilities. It is the same health insurance and the same retirement insurance for everybody. In Germany mostly Beamten and Lawyers make the laws, and they have different health insurance and retirement insurances then the people affected by the law. In the US the ultra rich make the laws and the laws do not apply for them.
This principle of making the law for somebody else is medieval, and did not work well in that time either.
Like many said Switzerland does have a left movement, but it is not that strong and it takes time, therefore Mutterschutz is not as great as in Germany and you have to insure every child separately in the health insurance.
Finally I love you work and hope you keep doing it a long time.
Urs Müller
EU: You don't get access to the single market, unless you agree to freedom of movement of persons.
CH: Ok, we don't really want that, but fine. We do need that access.
10 Years later... CH brain-drains the EU. At least, when Covid came round, we did help out the french, by allowing to transfer patients from alsace.
The part about "Being responsible for one's actions" makes a lot of difference. At least until recently this also went hand in hand, with people not falling for the tragedy of the commons. "bünzlitum" proved a effective barrier to people abusing public resources and destroying them in the process.
Some of the leftist issues are also in conflict with the small enterprises. Those are far more reliant on individual workers and have a much harder time accommodating prolonged absences. Big company simply has enough people on reserve to compensate. Things average out.
If you look into the actual statistics, Switzerland as a percentage of the population actually educates more medical doctors than Germany!
As a Swiss born in France and living in Switerland for 14 years, I have to say the video is pretty spot on, love the fact that for once the industry and all other business areas outside of banking are mentioned here. Great video!!!
Nevertheless the fact that the swiss franc is stronger compared to other currencies is good for importations but not that great for exports. Yes prices are then higher but you lose in competitiveness against other competitors. This has been going on since 2015, when the fixed exchange rate to the € was dropped. Companies have adapted since then but most of them would say that a stronger CHF is not the way to go.
What would be also interesing is comparing tha ratio "earnings/cost of living in Switzerland" to other countries. For example you were mentioning taxation on property, even though the tax is low, property prices are not: the median price in Switzerland for a house is CHF 1,1 million and CHF 780k for an appartment.
The nominal price of a home doesn't much matter, as long as the value appreciation of those assets is in lockstep with - or often outstrips (like in Switzerland) - the growth of the economy. And since Switzerland has one of the fastest growing populations of the industrialized world (since everyone wants to move to Switzerland to participate in the exploding prosperity of the Swiss society), this ensures sky-high, yet never waning demand for real estate, driving its prices up continuously.
Now you know why >15% of all adults in Switzerland are millionaires.
You say: "What would be also interes(t)ing is comparing th(e) ratio "earnings/cost of living in Switzerland" to other countries."
Statistics on the median and average wealth per capita across multiple countries answer just that question. So while Swiss living costs are seemingly high, obviously the personal savings and wealth accrual in Switzerland are far easier to achieve than in other countries, resulting in some of the highest Swiss savings and personal wealth statistics on the planet. I recommend to periodically look at statistical OECD, UN, World Bank or EU data.
You liar. you are frace you just migration Swaziland
Great information as usual! It was really nice to see you get out of the house for the video.
Mind you even though Switzerland is a rich country, the cost of living is at that same hgh level; Switzerland has been the #1 spot on the Big Mac index for ages and does so with a large marge compared to the rest of the world.
Yes, Switzerland indeed reigns on the global Big Mac Index. That much is true (although Norway is seriously catching up)!
BUT, the Swiss price is only 45% higher than the EU average (as well as USA and Britain), while salaries are higher by a multiple of 2 to 3! So, in PPP, the Swiss Big Mac price might be bloody close to be the cheapest in the world.
As we talk McDonald's, it might be good to note that the minimum gross hourly salary a McDonald's worker earns in Geneva is CHF 24.32/hour, which corresponds to €25.77, £22.00 or USD 27.80... 3 times the US rate for the very same job!
@@st-ex8506Geneva has The highest minimum wage in Switzerland
@@hasinabegum1038 Yes indeed!
But 5 other cantons have minimum wage between 20 and 24 francs/hour.
20.60 francs/hour in the rural canton of Jura takes you further than 24.32 in bloody expensive Geneva.
The cost of real estate in Switzerland is ridiculous. Even with a Swiss salary, the value just isn't there. Working in Switzerland but living in the Frontier Zone is a great way to get ahead financially while still living in a more authentic country. I mean, come on, Switzerland couldn't even come up with their own language.
As an Ex-Ami, naturalized Swiss - I'm ready. Sock it to me! .... later...
Ok, well done! One note - as an immigrant here, I never made close to the $202k you mentioned. Certainly not as a musician, and not as a teacher or IT-specialist. But despite that, we're comfortable here as retirees now. That obligatory employee/employer financed pension plan plus the Swiss version of Social Security, give us around 85% of our last take-home pay. And allows us our vacations (4-6 per year) in Switzerland, France and Germany.
I think 85% should be too high for such high salaries
@@hasinabegum1038 wow, such a nice person. Do you think that's a gift or something? Do you know how pensions and Social Security work? Here in Switzerland, both personal pensions and the Swiss version of Social Security are financed 50% by the employee.
But you feel that having a lower-middle class income like I did, getting 85% of that back as a pension from pension plans I contributed to for my entire working life is too much? So you think I should be forced to work at a Wallmart or something until I keel over like in the US? Such a nice person. I wouldn't wish your wishes for me on my worst enemy.
As an expat in Switzerland, I can confirm that the salaries are that high.
OMG, only just found you, well this is actually the 3rd video i'm watching, and it is so very apparent how much time and deep research you're putting into your YT offerings. This one in particular, is very well done and is so accurate! I'm a Brit, have lived here for about 4 decades, and I must say, this is probably the best video from a foreigner explaining Switzerland, that I have ever seen. Well done, look forward to watching many more of your videos.
One thing I have noticed, and I know you'll say there are too many comments to have the time to react to them all, and I understand that, but the percentage of those that you do acnowledge, is very, very small.... Pity!
Selbstverständlich, habe ich dein Channel Abonniert. Weiter so, see you next Sunday, tschüss.
I try to react to as many as I can, but I am currently on maternity leave and am only under contract to work 4 hours per week. So the majority of that time goes towards the production of videos. Starting in June, however, my little one starts in Kita and I resume normal work activities.
Meanwhile everyone here in Norway with significant assets are about to move to Switzerland because of our insane taxes on working capital. The argument of the finance minister for not reducing the taxes are "because then normal people would need to pay more", but he doesn't understand that if they all move then the country will have even less income.
So Norway has "normal people" and "abnormal people"?
Very interisting topic ☺️✨
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
The intro music is different and pretty darn good. :)
In my opinion the geographical factor was not worked out enough. It's in the center of the so-called Blue Banana and has big and strong economies as neighbors. That's a much stronger factor as presented.
Lets keep it real. The low to no inheritance, federal, and capital gains taxes are the biggest reasons why the rich flock to Switzerland. The stability of it's currency and standard of living is also good, however, the tax rates is the primary reason.
It's a tiny country surrounded by much larger filthy rich countries to do business with. Without the rest of Europe, Switzerland would look like Nepal.
Countries like Switzerland, Singapore, Monaco etc. are like oxpeckers: small birds that live in a mutualistic relationship with large mammals like elephants, rhinoceroses and cattle. They're cute, successful and definitely important to their host animals because they remove parasites from their skin. But without their host animals, they wouldn't do nearly as well.
It's the same with these countries - which doesn’t mean they're bad, but it does mean that unless you live in a similarly-sized country neighboring multiple larger national economies, then places like Switzerland aren't a role model for your country.
If we were to talk about an oxpecker, then one of the first things to do would be to acknowledge the rhinoceros it sits on. Likewise, a video about Switzerland's success should probably mention the EU.
@@Flavor_FlavNepal's immediate neighbours in the region are India, Tibet, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan and China.
All of these countries are known for their corruption (or in some instances, being occupied by a corrupt country).
Switzerland sits in a sea of economic success, and the rising tide lifts all the boats. It's the same for Nepal, except here it's a corrupt swamp.
If Nepal's neighbours solved their problems, then Nepal's corruption would dissolve like puff of smoke in the wind.
Goddammit RUclips, stop deleting my responses, you pigeon-brained bots.
That's true for every country lol
I noted a few not so minor in accuracies: The major part of the taxes does not go to either the canton nor the federal states but to the municipalities. Almost all political power resides in the village with the mayor, even citizenship is granted at the municipality level. - The tax competition is between villages not cantons. In one of the video inserts one could see Credit Suisse. Not really a good example of Swiss financial institutions. They went more or less bankrupt last year and where taken over by UBS. Some of the pictures must have been old and from somewhere else. I never saw masses of people with COVID masks in the streets at any time in Switzerland. The COVID measures were very very mild compared to Germany and Austria. Quite a few people got vaccinated, but the pubs stayed open and their were basically no lockdowns, no masks open-air. I did not have to show my vaccination status in Switzerland a single time through the period of worldwide frenzy.
I have never heard your pronunciation of the currency in English. Franc rhymes on tank, bank, drank. Yours sounded like a half hearted attempt of the French version. Maybe I have overheard it, but you did not mention the linguistic make up of the country which is really what uniquely defines "Swissness". It is not true that they did not have war in 500 years. They were heavily involved in the Napoleonic wars. They have a strong tradition of mercenaries, the Pope's Swiss guards date back to this tradition. The present territory was defined in the Napoleonic wars. They had confessional wars until 1850 in Fribourg. Attributing high literary to protestantism is historically wrong. The highest literacy rates in German speaking countries were achieved in Catholic regions often with monks and nuns as teachers. Compulsory schooling was introduced first in archcatholic Austria as early as 1780. The economic success in Switzerland is not a product of politics but rather a high work ethics, high level of civil consciousness. This does have to do with religion, not necessarily with protestantism. A lot of la Suisse Romande, Tessin and even many German speaking cantons was and remains Catholic.
Political spectrum: There are about 30% leftleaning voters between the socialists and the greens. Every now and than Geneva has a communist mayor. Bern and Zurich have strong leftist possibly extremist milieus. Left parties are stronger in the larger cities and the French Speaking regions, other than Vallais- The strongest party, SVP cannot be accurately defined as "conservative" but would be defined populist and strictly anti-European in other countries. Any political approach to Europe is strongly rejected in repeated referenda supported by the SVP. They even joined the UN only in 2002. The closest correspondance in Germany would be the AfD the FPOE in Austria. Maybe embaressing that this is the case in arguably the most successful European country, but this is the way it is.
A strong currency is an obstacle to foreign trade not a benefit. While you might be able to buy cheap you can't sell expensive. The fact that they have a healthy surplus makes their success even more remarkable.
There are quite a number of downsides to this however. Switzerland might be very rich, but the costs of living there are incredibly high, so the statistical average wealth of people might sound high, but it's inflated because of Switzerland's high costs of living, which includes rent prices. So the actual standard of living isn't actually as high as it might look at first, even if it is certainly higher than in most other countries.
And those kids attending those affluent school aren’t the ones building or creating the new technologies of the future, they’re the ones inheriting the companies that own the world.
The reasons may be complex, however this representation of Switzerland still gives me "wer hat, dem wird gegeben" vibes …
Etwas rustikaler: der Teufel sch**** immer auf den größten Haufen
Yeah, I seem to remember someone telling me that as a foreigner, if you work in Switzerland and lose your job, they don't want you there anymore. So unemployment benefit is not provided like in other countries. So I guess you are welcome to contribute to their workforce and spend your money there (expensive) but if you're down on your luck, the welcome is rescinded. So while good for the country's economy, maybe not so good for the individual.
@@catherinedeschryver1036 Not true. I have been a foreigner (American) living and working in Switzerland for many years, and twice I lost my job. I received full unemployment benefits (80% of last salary with kids) which is provided for 1.5 years, plus assistance in finding a new one (free training etc). What would have happened after 1.5 years I don't know because I always found a new job in a few months.
@@catherinedeschryver1036 Okay, actually I was thinking less about the individual, but more about how wealth accumulates here also in a kind of national level.
I can't think of any other country in the world, that would be able to have basically such low taxation on one hand - implementing the dream of neoliberalism - while maintaining such high investments in there infrastructure on the other hand. Any other country that had dramatically reduced the taxation of their rich in the last decades (Germany, the US and the UK come to my mind) now really have crumpeling streets, issues with their railways, financial holes in their power infrastructure and/or in their health or education system.
I really don't know any other country where reducing the taxation of the rich helped to keep the country wealthy in the long run. And for that, Switzerland is really an exceptional example.
Don't forget that Switzland was the poor house in Europe about 150 -180 years ago. We even paid people the ship ticket to america because this was cheaper than keep them and support them here.
We do have lots of problems in Switzerland, but as Ashton mentioned, we do have a "weak" government and due to the political system we have, changes are hard and take longer. I would argue that therefore we made fewer mistakes and maybe spend the tax money more wisly (at least in the past). And don't forget, a lot of infrastructer is paid via gasoline tax, tax for trucks using the roads, Vignette (Maut for autobahn) etc.
And the 0.4% rise in VAT (from 7.7 to 8.1 %) this year is for the pension. So there are a lot of ways how to get money out of your pocket and not just income tax.
View from UK (in Germany at the moment) knew a German who moved to Switzerland with a job offer for seriously more money, he is working back with his original German company - yes you can earn more in Switzerland but it cost more to live there. Of course it’s a bucket list location to visit, but like most places if you earn more money life cost more, no golden ticket to wealth.
Purchasing power is way higher in Switzerland than in Germany in my experience. Switzerland is expensive but still you can have a better life, travel more. I’m aware that it may depend on your job; I’m a scientist and hence badly paid regardless of the place I choose to live.
@@rucky_665 Correct! Most jobs, from minimum-wage ones to pHDs or other very qualified persons, are paid in general between 2 and 2.5 times higher than a comparable job in Germany, while the PPP ratio. is 1.6.
9:55 comparing the 7% average sales tax in the US with 25% VAT in Scandinavia, 15-20% in most of Europe... 😮😮
(yes i know sales tax and VAT are different things, but they are used in similar contexts)
And 8% in Switzerland
Regarding the educational system. Switzerland is only mediocre in the first +/- 10 years of school. For example Finnland is way better in this regard. But what is REALLY REALLY great about the Swiss educational system is that it‘s dual. You can either go to college an dstudy afterwards but you can also do an apprentice ship. Either option is regarded as good education.
Very similar to what happens in Germany as well.
As a Swiss, I agree with much of what you pointed out in this video. However, your remark on Switzerland having a 'week political left' and suggesting the prosperity of Switzerland is down to the political right rubs me the wrong way.
This is a typically ignorant and antisocial (dare I say anti-European) American attitude and is far from the truth. The left is not significantly weaker than in other European countries and has been included in the Swiss consensus government since World War Two.
Many of the social achivements of the last century have been spearheaded by the left: workers rights, proportional vote, women's voting rights and the Swiss retirement insurance to name but a few.
It is exactly the combining of a prosperous market economy with social safeguards that make the European model of social market economy such a success particularly in Switzerland.
totally agree
Well, if I remember it correctly, in Switzerland voting rights for women were only introduced on March 16. 1971 and equal participation of women in the labour market was not enshrined in law until 1981/1996. So if the social achievements were spearheaded by the left, as you quite rightly state, that was obviously not the case in Switzerland. Ashton is therefore right and her opinion of a weak leftist movement in Switzerland and does not demonstrate an anti-social and anti-European American attitude.
i'd say it's kind of mixed. we never had a large communist party in switzerland, we never had a labour government, and in particular when it comes to womens' rights, we lagged far behind. on the other hand the socialist party has been a permanent member of government since world war two, and we have excellent welfare and social security and healthcare systems, which are all the result of a strong political left.
YOU ARE INSULTINGLY OFFENSIVE=LEFTY
@@fan8281xx who is?
Interesting video! Would you consider doing similar videos about other rich countries? (Ireland, Luxembourg, Singapore..)
Would be fun! ☺️
@@TypeAshtonIreland is only superficially super rich. Low tax rates attract corporate capital but most money flows in and then quickly out with very little being invested locally. What’s interesting is why Ireland hasn’t yet become Switzerland.
You mean money laundry havens? How can such small countries with little population, no great activity in natural resources, energy, IT, defense, manufacturing or even tourism can be so rich? Oh, I forgot their main activity is finances. It is this that creates enough cash flow for all their other smaller activities to flourish, for bank loans for large investments and to ultimately maintain the low taxes. The problem with finances is that often the source of the large deposits are dubious, war lords, dictators, third world royals and generals, oil and resources tycoons, pirates, arms dealers, human traffic dealers, drug dealers and so on. You see, without these havens there would not be much point in making so much money. Where else would you store and invest it safely and legally, have a protect place to live, mingle with the same kind and have great services done by a well paid qualified and civilized workforce.
I am American and when I was a student in Germany, one Christmas vacation, I worked as a bartender at a ski resort in Switzerland. About 25 or 30 years ago, I watched a Swiss TV program that showed new townhouses being built for the working class in Switzerland. They had 3 feet thick brick walls and the plumbing pipes in the houses were made of expensive stainless steel. They were priced back then at 1.3 million US dollars. They said they were for workers, such as carpenters and plumbers and the mortgages were structured such that the buyers weren't expected to completely pay off the mortgages in their lifetimes. It was like paying rent for a lifetime and they would either sell them with some mortgage left or family members would end up paying off the mortgages later. They were tall, narrow townhouses with lots of stairs, that likely wouldn't appeal to older people. They had very long mortgages, which I guess , over time might be lower than rent, but they were so long in years, that the original buyers wouldn't live long enough to pay them off.
One issue to consider is that Switzerland has not been involved in the wars of Europe. Wars may lead to innovation but they also bankrupt nations. So after WW1 and WW2 they lost nothing. Of course their stability was important - so they could take assets from all sides. This is not to disregard what was said here, rather it is a build on this.
Great video.
Please do make a visit to Denmark and dive into our economy.
You'll find we are doing pretty well, but also that it is perhaps interesting that especially one company has become a major factor - sort of like what Nokia was for Finland.
Yes but Denmark is not exceptionality Rich unlike Switzerland
@@hasinabegum1038 Not what I said. As I mentioned we are doing pretty well, only Switzerland is like Switzerland.
I’m an academic in the UK with a human geography background and I might recommend your videos to my students!
Just one note: stronger currency it's actually detrimental to a country like Switzerland that exports more than it imports. It does not allow for higher exports prices... On the contrary, it will reduce exports volumes since swiss made products will result relatively more expensive abroad due to the stronger currency. This is even worse for Switzerland if we take into consideration that production costs are higher than in the rest of Europe or the world.
@@SMILYSUNFLOWER yes that is what they wish for. The SNB has no real power on changing the value of the CHF as it is only determined by the market. However, by lowering interest rates they are hoping more people will borrow in CHF, ultimately increasing the money supply which COULD result in lower value of the franc. The second effect they are hoping is that since interest rates in the US and Euro Area are still higher, people are gonna sell CHF for USD or EUR to then deposit the money there and get higher returns, devaluing the Swiss Franc. There are some other ways interest rates influence the currency but these two are usually considered the main ones.
People forget were we came from. Before the two world wars, Switzerland was not really rich. There has just been pumped in a lot of money because of the banking system and reliability. But that is slowly is degrading. The tipping point was in the 80s when innovation slowed down. Depends where the riches comes from and who keeps it.
Yep, they do a lot things better than most. Concerning exports, a strong currency is usually hampering exports not benefitting them.
Love your videos, excellent content and superb editing. Thanks!
Nice video, way better that the CNBC one from some days ago. Unfrortuatley all video about Switzerland speak abouth the rich part and people of this country, nobody take a look the avarage citizen, people that strugle for pay the very high cost of living created by the rich people from abroad.
As someone from Asia, I'm often fascinated by Switzerland, and I hope Asian countries can learn from this country as well. Not sure whether it's a blessing or bad luck, Switzerland is a relatively small country with small population. What would happen if Switzerland was say a bigger country like UK? Would their GDP per capita (US$) still be so high like US$80,000+. If so, their economy size would be as big as Japan, even China
Nice piece! One thing I noticed when I last visited Switzerland (Basel) in 2013 is the prices. While I don’t remember the exact currency exchange rate which has a bearing, the prices we paid were much more when accounting for the difference in currency value. My memory thinks it was about USD - CHF .93, it was much better when I first visited in 1983!
This is a really good video. Informative and with a clear perspective. Switzerland has decided not to be cheap. Well done, you Swiss (from a German perspective).
Thank you!
Gutes Video mit den zentralen Punkten Steuern, Bildung, Stabilität und früher Industrialisierung. Ich glaube ein weiter Punkt ist, dass die Schweiz im 2 WK nicht zerstört wurde. Nach dem Krieg hatte die Schweiz eine intakte Industrie und konnte wegen der traditionelle engen Bindung an Deutschland, massiv vom Wiederaufbau profitieren. Zum Thema Krieg eine Anmerkung: Es gab viele kriegerische Konflikte in den letzten 500 Jahren. Dabei gab es jedoch keine Zerstörungen und Plünderungen (Ausnahme Plünderung Staatsschatz Bern durch Napoleon), die das Land zurückwarfen. Diese Konflikte bleiben auf tote Soldaten beschränkt, mit geringer bis keiner Beeinträchtigung der Infrastruktur oder Produktionsstädten. In dem Sinne war die Schweiz nicht Kriegsfrei, aber blieb verschont von Kriegen, die das Land verwüsteten.
Die Eidgenossenschaft blieb zwar selbst von einer direkten, insbesondere territorialen Beteilung in europäischen Kriegen im wesentlichen verschont. Allerdings waren große Teile der Schweiz lange Zeit so arm, dass es nicht ungewöhnlich für schweizer Männer war, sich als Söldner in fremden Heeren anwerben zu lassen, wodurch Schweizer früher an vielen Kriegen teilnahmen. Dies spielte auf jeden Fall bis in die Zeit der Napoleonischen Kriege eine Rolle.
Andererseits hatten seit den Schwabenkriegen die nördlichen Nachbarn der Schweiz, also Staaten des römisch-deutschen Reichs, kaum noch Interesse an einem Krieg mit der Eidgenossenschaft. Und mit dem Ende des Dreissigjährigen Krieges 1648 schied die schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, wie auch die Niederlande, praktisch vollständig aus dem Heiligen Römischen Reich (deutscher Nation) aus.
Ein prominentes Überbleibsel des schweizerischen Söldnerwesens ist übrigens die Schweizergarde im Vatikan.
I was born and raised in Switzerland, currently 24 years old. This insane wealth my country has, is honestly something I can't even start to comprehend, considering I'm defenietly not in this "average yearly salary" chart. Speaking of which, that chart is quite a bit skewed, since there are a lot of, very high Top 1% earners, making so much money, that it skews the view of average income. The median income puts it in a way more realistic perspective.
0:40 There have been armed conflicts WITHIN Switzerland in the last 500 year.
The reason for high share of doctorate holders in population is not the education but rather the economy attracting highly educated expats.
At least in some of the leading countries.
switzerland did reform its education system. to be more compatible and to bring the numbers up (some loss of quality). But there is also a lot of import. If you want to hire the best in the field and create a new R&D centre, it's easier to convince them to move to switzerland than most other places. and since medical personnel is expensive to train, we now mass import them from the EU. Bilateral agreements basically means: Switzerland gets to participate in the EU-Market and gets to brain-drain their neighbours.
Switzerland is wealthy because they are not wasting the money in the European Union.
Even not paying for goods delivered out . Like Aloise Odermatt the owner of Delimpex. Ag .
Pretending they will buy from hungarian Company Corona baromfi kft and had done closing before paying . Blaming by Jutadiction is not possible as they are out of EU range
I felt that packed sandwich. Food in Switzerland is so expensive!😂
That's what German Bundesländer are completly missing - economic competition by differentiated laws in each country.
Well done 👍
Thank you! Cheers! ☺️
Who claimed their shady business dealings stopped 80 years ago? The shady business dealings of the other countries didn't stop. True off-shore banking from the Panama papers has in large parts replaced the Swiss in this position. But they know how to make their money work for them.
Currency needs to be backed up with gold, gold they had plenty. History still does matter a lot in all this, as it does in all places around the globe.
I am Swiss and yes: The country is rich, but not all the Swiss people (most rich people came from outside to live here). Education is still good, but I see, like everywhere, is getting worse. Education is totally important for direct democracy. Switzerland has money, just don't forget that we gave Greece a money to help them out, and we send good to Ucraine... Switzerland has and also gives.
It’s a very nice and safe country, and a culture that values individual freedom.
Tax evaders of all world: unite (in Switzerland) ! (freely adapted from Karl Marx)
Switzerland is definitely not a tax paradise anymore.. It is now Delaware, South Dakota(or is it North?), or the Isle of Man... not to mention the more exotic ones.
I also appreciate very much your videos. Thank you very much.
The beauty of switzerland in times of ideology discussions and political debates considering liberalism and minimal state is that somewhat the capitalistic society does not seem to smash the "normal" people. There are minimum wages stagered according to your profession, the workers have rights preserved, all inhabitants are obliged by law to have a health insurance so that nobody should die in front of a hospital. No strange discussions about minimal wages of 2.5 / hour or disguised socialism. School is free and highly appreciated, coined to the necessities of the market not wasting too much time discussing ideologies or religious differences. Switzerland lives, as you said, from well educated people, if the school fails, the country will fail.
Although there are many millionaires the ones at the other end of the spectrum do not seem as badly treated as elsewhere.
No switzerland is not a paradise, not at all, but to my feeling, despite all capitalism and conservative thoughts people are genuinely free to be as they want and express themself as they want (only constraint is the law, that is clear). That is what I appreciate the most.
Libertarians really out themselves when they make out Switzerland as some kind of example of their values. Because "small state" (like Ashton also stated) is absolutely not what Switzerland has, there is a huge administrative overhead and tons of regulations, which vary from "Kanton zu Kanton" making it even harder to keep it all within regulations for companies. The Libertarians out themselves because their whole story boils down to small taxation and that is all they really are interested in.
@@SarahAndreaRoycesChannel Ehmmm! No, I do not agree. There is of courseadministration in Switzerland, but procedures are much lighter, much more efficient, with generally more respect to the "client", then in the other 3 countries I have lived in (Germany, France and USA).
I have also had bad experiences in Switzerland, but nothing, even close, to the nightmares I have often experienced in France or Germany, for instance, both as an individual, as well as professionally, as an executive.
@@st-ex8506 As a person that like you lived in a variety of those countries, I'd say germany was slightly better. But the biggest procedural or administrative problems I experienced were not country based anyway. It was the horrible bureaucracy by incorporated companies. How easy was it for you to move your google and apple accounts when moving countries?
Out of interest, not rhetorical
@@SarahAndreaRoycesChannel I move neither my Google nor my Apple account... ever.
When I moved to the USA, I did not... because neither Google nor Apple existed at the time.
When I lived in Germany, it was for building a plant for my employer (I was chief engineer then) and, being employed by a Swiss company, I stayed domiciled in Switzerland.
Not that I am retired and mainly live in France, you are the first person to tell me that I should change something to my accounts... but I won't.
In Germany, the worst problems was going through all the hoops required to authorize, build and then commission a chemical plant. I have done the same in Switzerland, and here it goes like a breeze. Not that there are no norms to respect, etc, but the authorities are most helpful. You feel that you are their client. They want that plant be built and create employment! In Germany, it was pure bureaucratic hell! But, personally, I had good friends and colleagues around me, and generally a good time in Germany.
France is a beautiful country and we love it. But it is the quality of services that here make one's life miserable. The public administration is also very bureaucratic, but they are not the worst. Let's say that what you can achieve in 24 hours with a Swiss administration will take you 3 weeks in France. But, ultimately, it will be done. The absolute worst is the level of service "offered" by banks and insurance companies that is rock bottom. EVERY TIME you need a document from your bank, or you have a claim to the insurance company, they drive you absolutely nuts.
I will give you another example. When you have to deal with any large organisation in France, you will spend literally hours on the phone, listening to silly tunes most of the time, and bumped up from one incompetent service to another one just as incompetent. You are NEVER a known and respected entity.
In Switzerland, the name of the person responsible for my tax account at the fiscal administration is printed on the first page of my tax-return form, together with his or her DIRECT phone line! You always deal with that one person (except if he or she is on holiday or sick... ) if you have questions or problems to solve. That person knows you and is always most helpful. You have a temporary cash problem and cannot pay your taxes in time? No problem, he won't even ask you to prove what you are saying, but will issue a new and deferred payment schedule. All that with a 3 mn phone call. Try to do that with the French fiscal administration.... good luck! The very same is true with the federal pension administration, for instance. You get answers from competent and helpful persons, and solve problems in a breeze. Having retired a few months ago, and confronted to a mistake in the calculation of my pension, the problem was solved promptly. I am not saying that it would not end up being solved elsewhere, but it would take several time the effort, and much frustration!
So, yes, I agree with you, that is indeed some private corporations that drive us nuts... at least the most.
Funny how she misses the two probably Most powerful reasons for Switzerlands success: 1. Affordable HIGH CLASS Education for EVERYBODY (Update to College) and 2. “Direct Democracy”.
I lived in Montreux & Vevey Switzerland for 10 years. I left after paying double tax for so long. Many Americans who work for Nestle are renouncing their citizenship because of this. It's not so much Switzerland that enforces this but America because of money laundering.