Happy Swiss Confederation Day

On this happy occasion, let us take a few minutes to discuss some of the benefits of living in Switzerland. To start with, people are polite to a fault. Our family has been treated with the utmost respect the entire time we have been here. In our town, people greet each other in passing with Greuzi, and they say good-bye when they part.

While the trains run with well known precision, what is not so known is that you can get virtually anywhere in Switzerland through the extensive network of not only trains but also buses. The trains are also kept clean not only by the SBB, but also by the passengers themselves. One need look only so far as the neighboring countries to understand that it is hard to keep the transit system clean, and easy to create a mess. The Swiss have worked hard. Most of what we need is close at hand. That includes two supermarkets, three bakeries, day care, two post offices, several banks, a pool.

Joanna enjoys swimming, and for a very reasonable amount she can do so nearly every day of the year. How reasonable? What we pay in a year here wouldn’t cover the cost of the service in California for a month. But don’t get the impression that Switzerland is a socialist state, for it is perhaps the least socialist state in Europe. We do not have a social healthcare system, but we do pay a very reasonable fee per month for insurance. When we want to see a doctor, we see one. Not a nurse, but a doctor.

While I have come to realize that there is no perfect place, Switzerland is even attempting to do away with some of the things I would think of as flaws. Smoking here has dropped dramatically, even in the time we’ve lived here.

So here’s to you, Switzerland! Maybe next year I’ll recite this auf Deutsch!

Why Extradition of Hackers Is Important

Each day we hear about different forms of fraud and theft on the Internet. Someone in America gets phished from a computer in the UK that is controlled by another computer in Switzerland, that is controlled by an individual in Italy, and their bank account emptied to a mule in America, and the money ends up with some gang in Russia.

Even if you found the individual in Italy you have to answer this question: where was the crime committed? The Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe addresses this very question, and fosters cooperation amongst cooperating societies. Extradition is so rare that it is worth pointing out when it happens. On the 30th of July a UK Court refused to block extradition to someone who is accused of having caused many hundreds of thousands of dollars to US government systems. While in this case the government was a victim, something that happens all too often, far more often it’s individuals who are harmed. In this case the person sounds a bit disturbed. Let’s hope that next time they extradite people who do this sort of thing to make money, and demonstrate to them that it is not worth the risk.

Because the risk of getting caught is so small, this is an instant where the penalties should be very high when intent on theft, fraud, or disruption of services is clearly evident.

Doha Dead

World trade talks collapsed this week in Doha over food subsidies. I had previously discussed the potential impact on Switzerland. However, the collapse of these talks, the inability to reduce barriers, particularly subsidies in the U.S., has harmed countries where agriculture is still the dominant export, or would be if such tarrifs didn’t exist. The question remains: what protections are appropriate, even absent tarrifs? What sort of quality standards must be observed? If they are observed, then does the cost of living and production overcome the cost of transportation? And is the impact of transport on health and environment understood and accounted for? Many millions of lives and lifestyles depend on the answers. Food has to be affordable to all and safe to produce and eat.

Ignore This Day!

Ever wonder how talk show hosts come up with topics? I’ve been doing this blogging thing now for a month, and I am beginning to gain some appreciation for topic selection. I’ve often been told that it is better to say nothing at all than to say something meaningless. Not that I’ve listened, but that’s what I’ve been told. There are an infinite number of things going on in this world, and a nearly infinite amount of things that I have no opinion on. So that leaves open a question: if I want to blog regularly, what to talk about?

Today I could complain yet again about the Bush Administration and their perversion of justice by hiring cronies. I could complain about the fact that they blew the budget by $482 billion, much of which was spent on a war that was mismanaged from the beginning. I could add to the sympathetic sighs that singer Amy Winehouse continues to go through her travails, or that Kelsey Grammar goes through his.

Instead, this space is reserved for something positive to say about the world. Not so much today, eh?

You Say Tomato, I say Tomato. Let’s call the whole thing off.

Switzerland is one of the sticklers for the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks on agriculture subsidies. We have mountains here, and a good way up some of those mountains are farm animals. It costs a fair amount of money to bring those products to market. Wherever those animals are, farm products are carefully inspected before going to market. Salmonella has not been an issue here. NPR had a story on this back in 2005.

In the meantime it’s tomato season back in New Jersey and elsewhere in the States, and it has been marred once again by a Salmonella scare. Official warnings have been canceled as of July 21, but a new warning has been issued regarding jalapeño peppers. Here we go again. U.S. farming practices remain a disaster. Thanks to lax regulation of the food supply we have had repeated scares. Last year it was spinach, with a bunch of pigs having taken a romp in a California field. What will it be next? People often mention the food supply as a potential terrorist target. I don’t see why they should bother. The farmers are doing a fine job of poisoning Americans without additional help.

Here is why the WTO is so important in this discussion. The Swiss pay a premium to protect their food supply through tighter inspection regimes and a higher standard of farm practice. Americans do not pay that premium. If the Swiss authorities deregulated their agriculture, they would in effect be reducing their standards for food quality. Perhaps instead Americans should consider raising their standards so that fewer people get sick.