Switzerland | Dr. Goulu

numbers are correct, but there is no deforestation since long :In total, between...

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

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numbers are correct, but there is no deforestation since long :

In total, between 1985 and 2018, they increased by 589 km2 (+5%), which roughly corresponds to the extent of Lake Geneva. These increases relate almost exclusively to mountain regions, where trees have grown back onto unused alpine pastures and where we are also beginning to observe a rise in the tree line due to climate change.

(source : Federal Office of Statistics)

actually we had banking secrecy instead of trusts ;-)Some rich people create Fou...

Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

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actually we had banking secrecy instead of trusts ;-)

Some rich people create for non-profit or charity and live on managing it, but certainly not 3%

I guess your 3% are mostly retired people who saved their money on private trust funds. In Switzerland we have a mixed state/private that is a good comprise as we like them here.

From what I see here ( ) about a third of swiss taxpayers (i.e. almost all citizens) have no private “third pillar”, so their retirement depends only on social (first pillar) and mandatory (second pillar) provisions.

Said otherwise, 66% of swiss people have some money on a private pension fund.

Alas, you pictured probably the most deadly place in Switzerland.Matterhorn is o...

Fri, 13 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

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Alas, you pictured probably the most deadly place in Switzerland.

Matterhorn is one of the , with about 12 persons killed every year, twice the number of murders in our largest city, Zürich.

Besides, there is a long standing controversy about the accident that occurred during the Some believe a guide cut the rope between him and Lord Francis Douglas to save his life…

So please don’t go there unless you are a trained mountaineer, with a good guide and a good rope.

actually when I looked for a graph I found this one, but not its source. As I wr...

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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actually when I looked for a graph I found this one, but not its source. As I wrote, I used it because it looks fair, but I’ll gladly replace it with a better one when I find one.

About the smartvote method, it may apply to distinct states, or a whole country. Actually, in the example shown, the small dots are the position of the cantonal (State) parties , and the big spot is the federal level.

All you need is data. Many politicians answering the same questions. What’s nice and surprising at first is that the questions don’t need to be politically situated on the map. Just ask any politically related questions and the maths do the rest.

the question was about US and Switzerland only. The graph shows the position of ...

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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the question was about US and Switzerland only. The graph shows the position of the “Social Democratic Party” of Switzerland I’m talking about in the answer, that’s all.

In Switzerland we have a very reliable mathematically based way of measuring the left/right positioning of parties and politicians thanks to . it produces maps like these that can even be “animated” to show the political changes across time

the methodology is described (in german only, sorry…) here :

I just noticed Australia has adopted this approach :

(and I started to apply the method to France here : )

Use the same approach in the US and we will have an objective way to compare ;-)

Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland - Wikipedia ??? It has invalided some popul...

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

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??? It has invalided some popular initiatives, which are modifications of the Constitution issued by the ultimate legislative power in Switzerland : the people.

The European Court on Human Rights is a court we decided to accept as one more supreme court for some special cases, like La Haye or …

Well, if I have to choose between a “ where a few politically elected judges can overrule the majority of people and the (semi-) direct democracy we have, I’d chose the (semi-)direct democracy. EU chose the former, which is precisely my point.

Research and development (R&D) - Gross domestic spending on R&D - OECD Data show...

Tue, 28 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

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shows Switzerland is 3d after Israel and Korea. Finland is 11th (Sweden is 4th) (figures from 2017)

Public organisations (CERN, ICAN, Red Cross…) and private research center surch as IBM Research in Rüschlikon certainly also play a role.

found interesting also. Maybe it’s the combination of all the above. Or maybe just luck.

It is extremely EASY for citizens of EU countries to obtain a work and residence...

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

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It is extremely EASY for citizens of EU countries to obtain a work and residence permit in Switzerland.

I know, I am Swiss and live in Switzerland ;-)

and also I read the news :

“almost 2.1 million foreigners – more than two-thirds of them from the EU and EFTA countries – lived in Switzerland at the end of 2018 (of these, some 400,000 were ). The total population is 8.4 million.”

Thank’s not perfectly correct:( source Tax rates in Europe - Wikipedia )As you c...

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

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Thank’s not perfectly correct:

( source )

As you can see, there are countries where taxes are lower, and countries when employer pays no taxes at all (Denmark ?).

Of course, one should compare apples to apples : mandatory health insurance is not considered a tax in switzerland, while it is included in the “social security” package in many countries listed here. Add about 5% blue to swiss “taxes” to make things a bit more comparable…

IMHO is the key of swiss wealth : we just export for about $20 BN / year more than we import. That’s about $3000 per inhabitant… For example our exports of medical drugs (Novartis, Roche…) amount about the same as the national budget for health,..

you just don’t know what Inflation is (why have Zimbabwe and Venezuela record in...

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

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you just don’t know what is (why have Zimbabwe and Venezuela record inflation, then ?) and have no idea of the either. Switzerland makes $2bn per MONTH of exports of medical drugs, watches, machines, coffee, chocolate more than imports.

For the rest, well, just try to open a bank account in Switzerland and you’ll see by yourself … But if you succeed, your money will indeed be safer here at 0% interest rate than in your own country, because of YOUR inflation…

From your reference “The German-speaking Swiss(Deutschschweizer), i.e. Alemannic...

Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

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From your reference “The German-speaking Swiss(Deutschschweizer), i.e. , historically amalgamated from the population and the and , including subgroups such as the ” (and “Alemannic German” is a pleonasm : in their own language its )

So you must go back about one millenia to find connections between Swiss German and modern Germany, and it’s not related to emigration or colonisation

“You say:Swiss-German is language spoken by swiss citizens who happen to be desc...

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

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“You say:Swiss-German is language spoken by swiss citizens who happen to be descendant of Germany right,like Swiss-french and swiss-italian is spoken by descendant of both France and Italy respectively who are part of the country.” No I never said that, on the contrary, and that’s why ther is no identity crisis at all.

The languages have common roots, but german speaking swiss (aka swiss german) are NOT descendants of Germans, nor are french speaking swiss (aka swiss french) descendants of french, nor the (I’m one of them) former italians.

Switzerland formed much before our modern neighbors formed. Check