Europe has many stunningly beautiful places, but few can rival Switzerland with its diversity concentrated in such a small space. The Swiss confederacy is easily traversed by a commercial airplane while you have a cocktail. North to south it measures a mere 137 miles, a distance covered by a passenger aircraft in less than 15 minutes, while the east to west distance is a whopping 216 miles, taking about 22 minutes air travel time.
But what is below is what makes the nation such a jewel. There are 13 large lakes located in various parts of the country, along with uncounted smaller ones, all suitable for water sports, numerous large and small rivers dot the landscape, and there are over 3000 sq kilometers of glaciers. The highest peaks in the Swiss Alps reach to over 15,000 feet, with climbs of great difficulty attracting mountaineers from all over the world.
Switzerland is and has been a fiercely independent and neutral nation. It joined the United Nations in 2002 but wisely stayed away from joining the European Union and the common monetary zone of the Euro. The wisdom of that action is of course quite evident now, but for a while during the unfolding of the world economic crisis that started in 2008 with the popping of the U.S. housing fraud bubble, the Swiss could not avoid taking a severe hit.
While many currencies were losing value on an almost daily basis, many major financial players were looking to park billions of dollars in assets in a safe haven. There were not many, and of course, Switzerland was flooded with capital seeking shelter from all over the world. As a result, the Swiss Franc (CHF) became the hottest thing for investment managers, driving it up, up, and away. To those who knew Switzerland to be an expensive place to visit, it became outrageous for a while. In August of 2011, the CHF almost reached parity with the Euro, and at about the same time, the US dollar only got you 0.72 CHF. It was a catastrophe for Switzerland.
The National Bank realized that they had to do something drastic, and they did. They pegged the Swiss Franc to be no less than CHF 1.20 to 1 €, and they have supported that since the middle of August 2011. It absolutely needed to be done, as valuable Swiss exports as well as the life giving tourism industry were endangered. Swiss tour companies organized daytrips for shoppers to Austria and Germany for shopping expeditions, and with the strong Franc, many Swiss were going as far afield as the USA to buy inexpensive electronics and cameras.
Switzerland is one of the richest nations in the world, with one of the lowest borrowing costs of any sovereign nation in the world, currently 0.85%, an inflation rate of 0.7%, holding huge foreign reserves, and ranking seventh amongst the world’s nations with gold reserves of 1,040.1 tons of the yellow metal stashed away in underground bunkers across the Helvetian nation. That may be why this tiny shining beacon of democracy has an air force that until recently consisted of 456 aircraft, now downsized to 270 units, including 33 F-18 Hornets and 54 F-5 Tigers. Yesterday, the Swiss parliament decided to purchase an additional 22 Saab Gripen Jetfighters from Sweden to keep their armed forces equipped with top of the line equipment. Of course it is kind of silly to have that kind of airpower, considering that at full speed, these aircraft can crisscross Switzerland in moments. But there is all that gold that glitters and needs to be defended. Overall, it is not a massive layout compared to the GNP, if the armed forces consume a mere 0.9% of the state’s expenditures. Compare that to the United States, where the actual figures for the Defense Department are estimated to be 30-40% of the GNP, but there are many hundreds of billions more in hidden expenses for the multitude of all the intelligence agencies as well as R&D farmed out to universities and private contractors. In reality the figures for fiscal year 2010 are somewhere between 42% and 57% of the nation’s tax revenues. That percentage figure of course would be much lower, if the most prominent voters, the corporations, would pay their fair share.
So Switzerland, with all its beauty and its deadly armed forces, sounds like a wonderful place to live, but does not particularly want any more foreigners. As they so famously said in 1943: “Das Boot ist Voll!” (The boat is full)
Jamie Douglas
San Rafael, Mendoza
[image: Swiss Airforce F-18 Hornet, via Wikipedia]
I encourage you to write to me, jamie@expatdailynews.com with any questions or suggestions you may have, and if necessary, we can establish a voice communication via Skype. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel related business. My advice is based on my own experiences, and is free of charge. (Donations accepted). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.
Jamie Douglas is an Adventurer, Writer and Photographer with an amazing array of Nikon equipment, and a lifetime of experience traveling and documenting. To contact him for assignments, email: jamie.douglas [at] yahoo.com
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Visited Switzerland in 2004 for the 1st time and fell in love. Beautiful country. Well overdue to visit again (possibly 2012). But yes, it's VERY expensive. Oh to be born there.....
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