The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

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I Shrugged
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The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by I Shrugged » Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:20 pm

Even though it was trending this way, I'm still pretty surprised they have decided to change their ancient tradition and laws. Short article:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-swis ... SKCN1MF13O
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by dualstow » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:45 am

Interesting news. There are likely far more African dictators and white collar criminals than Harry Browne types, so perhaps this is one case in which the lack of privacy is progress. (I feel funny just typing that, though).

I wonder how things are in Austria.
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by jhogue » Wed Oct 10, 2018 6:58 pm

1. Actually, Harry Browne predicted that the Swiss would one day be forced to abandon bank secrecy, in his book on Swiss banks originally published in the 1980s.

2. If you read the article carefully, you will note that this new sharing of bank information with other countries applies only to foreigners. Swiss citizens still retain their "ancient tradition and laws" regarding banking privacy. The Swiss know they are a tiny country and cannot halt the more unappetizing aspects of globalization, but that does not stop them from trying to slow it down.
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by dualstow » Wed Oct 10, 2018 8:37 pm

jhogue wrote:
Wed Oct 10, 2018 6:58 pm
1. Actually, Harry Browne predicted that the Swiss would one day be forced to abandon bank secrecy, in his book on Swiss banks originally published in the 1980s.
Interesting. Another point for Harry!
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by Kriegsspiel » Thu Oct 11, 2018 6:47 pm

Harry wielded a pen of beastknowledge. That dude was smart as fuck.
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by jhogue » Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:05 pm

"beast knowledge"?
“Groucho Marx wrote:
A stock trader asked him, "Groucho, where do you put all your money?" Groucho was said to have replied, "In Treasury bonds", and the trader said, "You can't make much money on those." Groucho said, "You can if you have enough of them!"
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by I Shrugged » Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:08 am

There has to be a lot of concerned account holders around the world right now. I would think.

Thankfully I don't have that problem, lol.
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by Libertarian666 » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:11 am

This is old news for anyone unfortunate enough to have had a Swiss bank account (or cash-value insurance policy) in the recent past.
Fortunately another of Harry's pieces of advice was never to have a taxable event in a Swiss bank account: just buy gold and hold forever.
Anyone who followed that advice would have been spared any significant tax trouble when they caught up with their paperwork.
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by Jack Jones » Tue Oct 23, 2018 6:07 am

dualstow wrote:
Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:45 am
There are likely far more African dictators and white collar criminals than Harry Browne types, so perhaps this is one case in which the lack of privacy is progress. (I feel funny just typing that, though).
Trust the funny feeling. Reduced privacy for the good guys in order to catch bad guys is not progress.
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by dualstow » Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:48 am

Jack Jones wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 6:07 am
dualstow wrote:
Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:45 am
There are likely far more African dictators and white collar criminals than Harry Browne types, so perhaps this is one case in which the lack of privacy is progress. (I feel funny just typing that, though).
Trust the funny feeling. Reduced privacy for the good guys in order to catch bad guys is not progress.
Although I agree in general terms, I think that a certain level of wealth calls for transparency, not privacy. As always, the devil is in the details.
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by jhogue » Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:00 pm

dualstow, I am afraid that you have mischaracterized Swiss attitudes toward both privacy and crime.

Paul Erdman, an American novelist who had once been the CEO of a Swiss private bank, said that the difference between the Swiss and the Americans is that the Swiss are willing to put their white collar criminals in jail.

Erdman had reason to know. After his bank collapsed, Swiss banking regulators charged, convicted, and jailed him for bank fraud stemming from unauthorized trading in cocoa futures.

On the other hand, a former governor of New Jersey and US Senator, Jon Corzine, who oversaw the collapse and massive securities fraud at MF Global, never spent a night in jail and is still walking the streets of America a free man.

Have a nice weekend, everybody.
“Groucho Marx wrote:
A stock trader asked him, "Groucho, where do you put all your money?" Groucho was said to have replied, "In Treasury bonds", and the trader said, "You can't make much money on those." Groucho said, "You can if you have enough of them!"
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by dualstow » Tue Oct 23, 2018 6:37 pm

jhogue wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:00 pm
dualstow, I am afraid that you have mischaracterized Swiss attitudes toward both privacy and crime.
Ha. I don’t know anything about Swiss attitudes. (Nazi gold, but that’s out of date). I am however, expressing my personal opinion that if someone has tens of millions of dollars in an account, there should be some transparency.

Edit (punctuation)
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by boglerdude » Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:32 pm

There should be a reality TV show where libertarians/ancaps start their own country with no police or wealth redistribution. They'd shoot from their bunkers at anybody who tried to turn around in their driveway etc
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by Libertarian666 » Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:46 pm

boglerdude wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:32 pm
There should be a reality TV show where libertarians/ancaps start their own country with no police or wealth redistribution. They'd shoot from their bunkers at anybody who tried to turn around in their driveway etc
Assuming that isn't a joke, you really need to learn more about anarcho-capitalism.
A good place to start (other than his bogus IP theory) is A Spontaneous Order: The Capitalist Case for a Stateless Society (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1512117277).
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by dualstow » Thu Oct 25, 2018 3:14 pm

a casual search turned up this bit from Italy’s Corriere della Sera
A “glass safe”
The list of questionable characters whose financial assets have been entrusted to Swiss banks is long: in addition to accounts held by the already mentioned Mobutu (Zaire), Marcos (Philippines), Gaddafi (Libya) and Duvalier (Haiti), there are those linked to the former tyrant of Tunisia, Ben Ali, and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. But the list of “politically exposed” figures also includes the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, and the daughter of the Uzbek prime minister. After the abolition of banking secrecy rules, bilateral arrangements for the taxation of capital from abroad and the forthcoming international automatic exchange of bank data, will Switzerland become once and for all a “glass safe”? There is still some way to go, and some non-profit organisations point out that the new law does not restrict money coming into the accounts, which is too often accepted unquestioningly.
- 2015
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by jhogue » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:36 pm

Dualstow,

I find it ironic that an Italian newspaper complains about high profile foreigners hiding their ill-gotten gains in Swiss banks.

It is common knowledge in Italy that (literally) millions of Italians hide money in Swiss banks because they historically have not trusted their own country’s government and banks.

Of course, if Mussolini was the head of my government, and if my currency was depreciating like the Italian lira did, I think I would be looking for some nearby country to hide my assets too.
“Groucho Marx wrote:
A stock trader asked him, "Groucho, where do you put all your money?" Groucho was said to have replied, "In Treasury bonds", and the trader said, "You can't make much money on those." Groucho said, "You can if you have enough of them!"
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Re: The official end of Swiss bank secrecy

Post by dualstow » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:44 pm

That is ironic. O0 But of course, the newspaper is not complaining, and it spends a fair amount of time criticizing domestic goings-on.

They used to say that baseball was America’s national pastime and Italy’s was tax evasion.
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