# Switzerland Scare Helpng to Scare



## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

On sites like zero hedge and others that believe the sky will fall soon the actions in Switzerland this past week are a great sales pitch. The Swiss actions could have contributed to the spike in precious metals this week too.

What did the Swiss do? As I read it the powers that govern things in Switzerland agreed the free market would dictate the rate of exchange between the franc and euro. Franc being the longest running fiat currency and oft considered one of the safest currencies in the world and the euro ..l well being ine of the newest currencies in the world and constantly having issues holding up in value. Prior to this decision in Switzerland the government there arbitrarily forced the exchange rate to one that favored the euro, and when they took that glove off the franc surged in value ...40% at one point settling at 13% when things calmed down. While this does matter, it's not an indicator of falling sky's and collapse. Here is why.

List of countries by GDP (nominal) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Swiss economy is 9/10ths of 1% of the world. God bless them but if the US sneezed hard like we did in 08/9 our impact is greater then theirs disappearing completely. In other words they are minor, insignificant and simply don't equate to "enough" of anything to matter. Besides they just got stronger not weaker. This will impact the dollar none, it will impact the euro a little, and oil none.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I guess I'm "neutral" on this.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

I've been trying to figure out why it is such a big deal. For the reasons mentioned by Ripon, this whole thing has been causing me to scratch my head, disturbing what left of the hair I have.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Interesting observations. Lots of wealth in Swiss banks so maybe its a bigger deal to those who have their slush funds stashed in Swiss Francs.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

Often market movements are more important due to direction and the rate of change rather than scale. For instance, many here think Russia is economically important. They are the 8th largest economy in the world, far from sizable enough to matter and they are historically very poorly managed which lowers their importance even more. Yet you will read posts on this forum that place a great deal of importance on something like whether Russian trade occurs in dollars.

The Swiss moves in and of themselves are not important, but they were unexpected in timing and direction, so they caused a short term disruption. In the long run they are managing their economy better than most countries, but are really not a cause for big movements in world markets. I think they should be applauded for doing the right thing for their own economy but nothing has really changed here as a result.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

Then why does it disturb the euro countries so much?


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Switzerland is a joke a postage stamp. A meaningless country that has gone a lone with anything as long as they get left alone. They have no real economy . They contribute nothing to the world as a whole. They profited from shipping Jews back to Germany after the stole all they had and for years played like they were hero's.
Switzerland counts for nothing but hiding drug money and other illegal cash.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Smitty901 said:


> Switzerland is a joke a postage stamp. A meaningless country that has gone a lone with anything as long as they get left alone. They have no real economy . They contribute nothing to the world as a whole. They profited from shipping Jews back to Germany after the stole all they had and for years played like they were hero's.
> Switzerland counts for nothing but hiding drug money and other illegal cash.


I could be wrong, but I don't think you much like Switzerland. :armata_PDT_12:


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

They're not TOTALLY useless. They gave us SIG. :arrow:


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

Boss Dog said:


> Then why does it disturb the euro countries so much?


The Euro and the Swiss Franc trade actively and Switzerland is surrounded by Euro countries so the contrast between a strong currency and a currency that is being weakened by economic mismanagement is particularly graphic there. The move was also a surprise, resulting in an abrupt short term movement. Long term it won't matter to anyone except the Swiss or those who want to buy Swiss goods.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

Smitty901 said:


> Switzerland is a joke a postage stamp. A meaningless country that has gone a lone with anything as long as they get left alone. They have no real economy . They contribute nothing to the world as a whole. They profited from shipping Jews back to Germany after the stole all they had and for years played like they were hero's.
> Switzerland counts for nothing but hiding drug money and other illegal cash.


The Swiss put everyone through the reserves and they all keep rifles at home. Marksmanship is their national sport. As a result, they haven't been attacked in 400 years. We should do so well.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Edited for stupidity on the part of the poster


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Diver said:


> The Swiss put everyone through the reserves and they all keep rifles at home. Marksmanship is their national sport. As a result, they haven't been attacked in 400 years. We should do so well.


 They have not been attacked because the help the Germans. They have not been attacked because no reason to when it is time just inform them who is in charge.
They have not been attacked because all of the bad guys keep their money there.
You statement reflects the BS taught in public schools of over 60 years about the peaceful and wonderful society they have. All based on BS. 
To keep Germany happy they took every dime jews put in their banks and shipped many right back to concentration camps. To this day they have failed to return the stolen property and cash.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

So they're mad because the Swiss made them look bad. :sorrow:


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

Smitty901 said:


> They have not been attacked because the help the Germans. They have not been attacked because no reason to when it is time just inform them who is in charge.
> They have not been attacked because all of the bad guys keep their money there.
> You statement reflects the BS taught in public schools of over 60 years about the peaceful and wonderful society they have. All based on BS.
> To keep Germany happy they took every dime jews put in their banks and shipped many right back to concentration camps. To this day they have failed to return the stolen property and cash.


So your basic criticism dates to WWII and their refusal to allow Jews to immigrate into their country. During the same period we wouldn't accept the exact same people here either.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

That does it for me. No more Swiss Miss hot chocolate.


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## John M (Jan 17, 2015)

I would like to add that I believe it very important that they live in a mountainous country and all own firearms.

Also without trying to sound too "tin foil hat" is it possible that banking entities are trying to destablize the swiss franc in order to get the country to move to EURO exclusively? There must be a huge push by euro countries to force (or encourage) others to join in.

Seems like they wanted change, maybe they think in the long run it will significantly increase the value of their currency?


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Diver said:


> So your basic criticism dates to WWII and their refusal to allow Jews to immigrate into their country. During the same period we wouldn't accept the exact same people here either.


First I've heard this. I must be uninformed. Do you have a source?


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

Arklatex said:


> First I've heard this. I must be uninformed. Do you have a source?


Here is the single most famous example:

MS St. Louis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a more generalized description of our policies leading up to WWII:

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~jonfeng1...urg/questions/historians_refugeeresponse.html


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