The rotten secret

There are international conventions and agreements. They are there to regulate issues between states. But what is the use of such agreement, when the US make an ultimatum and the Swiss bend and lay themselves flat on their bellies, though some legal proceedings are still under way?

All this happened because of the Swiss Banking Secret. A rotten secret.

Many people, from all over the world, have secret (what we call "numbered") bank accounts in Switzerland. And this is a juicy business for our Swiss banks.


There are clouds in the former sunny sky of Switzerland's biggest Bank, UBS. Heavy clouds. UBS is (or perhaps, soon, was) heavily present in the US. And did good business. And now it seems also fishy business.

Last wednesday, UBS reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice and has agreed to give data of 300 American customers of UBS. Accused of helping tax evasion, UBS, the world's biggest fortune manager, thought that they will prevent a formal court case against them. The more so, as UBS also paid 780 million dollars to the Department of Justice to conclude the case. All this with the agreement of the Swiss Federal Finance Market Authority and the Swiss Government.

Is the case now settled? It does not look like. The Department of Justice filed another case in a Florida court to force UBS to provide data of 52'000 US customers who have non-declared accounts in Switzerland. These customers are accused of having kept those accounts secret and therefore have not respected US Tax Laws. UBS says that they will contest based on US laws, the conditions of the "Qualified Intermediary Agreement" with the US IRS, the Swiss Banking Secret and international principles, where US courts should consider foreign laws.

Big deal. The US Department of Justice will push the case through. They say that 32'000 cash and 20'000 securities accounts are involved with a value of 14.8 billion dollars. And they have heavy arguments. It seems that around 4'000 trips (per year) were made by UBS staff (of various levels) to contact customers in the USA. UBS documents proving this are in the possession (it seems) of the Department.

Swiss newspapers are commenting extensively on the Swiss Banking Secret. The rotten secret. One of the biggest papers writes that the "secret" is now a myth. Another one says that the Swiss Finance Market (one of the most important ones in the world) is with its "back to the wall".

Swiss authorities are now explaining that the banking secret is not under pressure because it never was applied when fishy or criminal practices are implied. Again, big deal. The Pandora box has been opened. Thanks to the action of the US Justice.

And Germany, France and the whole European Union will now come and claim the same "treatment". Because they are also having citizens who have profited to evade taxes.

The Swiss Banking Secret is well rotten.

To me, all this does not matter. I do not evade taxes. And I closed my UBS account 10 years ago.

UBS's sky is cloudy and will remain so for a long time. Perhaps for ever. In the last years they have not been on top. As the CEO cupidly says: "We made mistakes". A mild statement. They made many mistakes. And closed the year 2008 with a loss of 18 billion dollars. The Swiss Government has helped them to get over the rounds by providing 5.5 billion dollars of tax payers money.

To pay fabulous remumerations (bonus) to managers and staff. As they got "public" money, the SVP party (my famous black sheep) suggests that the UBS bosses salaries should be limited to the level of managers like Swisscom (the biggest communication provider), the Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss Post. And that would be similar to what Barack Obama decided for such issues.

It is the first time I agree with something the SVP says. And if this is done, the rotten secret will not smell so bad.

Battling the economic crisis

The American Chambers have passed the President's bill for 787 billion dollars. And they expect that things should be contained with this and that jobs will be saved or even new jobs created. We will see what the outcome will be, but I am confident that at least some good things will be the result.


Here, in Switzerland, we are confronted also with the crisis. The Swiss Government has decided to make a package too. We are, of course, much smaller than the US and so our package is according to the size of our country: 700 million dollars. A big part of this money will be used to start to build infrastructure projects, like motorways, rail road tracks and government buildings. These projects were planned for years later but now they will be started. To boost the economy. By all means is will assure jobs in the construction and industrial business. And if people continue to have money to spend (even if they spend less) it will have a positive impact on the retail business too.

For me, as an indivual, the crisis might have an impact too. I will not loose my job, because I am retired. And I have no worries about my retirement benefits. Because both of my retirement schemes are government plans and so there is not much to worry. But to get some additional income (to put some butter in my spinach) might be difficult. And so, I have, contrary to governments, no "advanced" investment plan, but rather I have to look where I can save some money (still to be able to put butter in my spinach).


And I found a good way to save. I bought this card. It is called (literally) the "Half Tax Card". The word "Tax" is misleading, it has nothing to do with taxes. The card simply allows to travel on most of the efficient Swiss public transport system, at half the price.

I will reduce using my car. Which I have to do by all means. It is 15 years old and I will not be able to buy a new car. So it has to last. And then, it is cheaper to use the public transport anyway.


This map shows where the reduction card can be used. Everything marked in red. On the railways, on the secondary private railways, on urban busses of most cities, on ships and boats on rivers and lakes, on cable cars and on certain ski lifts. I am not using ski lifts (I don't ski) and so perhaps I should ask for a reduction of the price of the card.

But then, I bought the card with a validity period of 3 years. And that cost me 300 dollars. For the 3 years. If you look at the map, you see Lake Geneva on the left and Lake Constance on the upper right. Between the two, the travel time is something like 4 to 5 hours (like between Washington, DC, and New York city with the Amtrak Metroliner). And to do this trip, it would cost me something like 130 dollars. In and out. First class. Or 65 dollars in second class. But I can get it cheaper. By buying a "day ticket". Which cost 70 dollars and then I can travel from 00h01 to 23h59 as much as I want, all over Switzerland.


I could go to place like "La Brévine" in the Swiss Jura mountains. But I will not go there. Because they call this region "Siberia of Switzerland". And yesterday the temperature was minus 33 degrees Celsius.


I will rather use the facility in the city of Lausanne with their brand new high tech metro. It has been inaugurated a few month ago and already many public transport officials from all over Europe have come to look at this technical marvel. The only thing which I think is not nice is that it has no drivers. It is steered from some central point.


And that is why I will often use the trolleybus in my home region. Where there are drivers. And I might discover some nice drivers. Like our friend Bill.

Well, using the reduction card is a first step. So that I don't have to battle a personal economic crisis.

Cities

Tver, an industrial town in Russia. Located on Volga River. With hidden treasures. I liked it very much. For many reasons. The main one, its friendly people.


Skopje, Macedonia. Heavily damaged and destroyed by an earthquake in 1963. Which was the reason for me to start to roam around. I wrote about it. When I worked in Kosovo, I went many times to Skopje. And enjoyed the old part of the city.


Lyon, France. We often go to this lovely town on the Rhône river. And enjoy nice "French Cuisine" and good wines. At lunch. Because we shop before and after.


Kigali, Rwanda. The first foreign capital I visited in my life. At that time, Kigali had 5'000 inhabitants. That was in 1965. Today it seems that there are around 500'000.


Annapolis, USA. I never forget this lovely town in the Chesapeake Bay region. The only bad souvenir is a contest where people had to swallow oysters (or was it clams?). I was impressed to see a guy swallow a huge, a very huge amount. But the impression (good or bad) vanished when he vomited everything on me. My fault, I was too curious and should not have gone to the front row.

These are just a few cities I remember. Of course, I remember much more. I will tell you about it.

Danger: Superstition

Today is Friday 13.

I am afraid. Because I am superstitious.


I will avoid to walk underneath an open ladder. It will bring me bad luck. They say though that this can be undone if I walk immediately backwards under the latter. But if the ladder is on a sidewalk (and they are icy right now) I may break my legs. The only hope I have is that I cannot imagine where an open ladder could be on my way.


I just hope that no black cat is crossing my way. Our opposite neighbour has a black cat. But he is living on the second floor of the building and the cat is always on the balcony. I will call the neighbour to ask him to tie the cat to the balcony so that it cannot fall and cross my way. Because chances are big that my wife is sending me for some errands.


Today, I will not shave. Because to shave I have to look in the mirror. And I normally shave after having taken my shower. When everything is slippery. And my shaving gear is in the cupboard behind the mirror. I might slip opening the mirror door, it will bang and break and I am fully hit with bad luck.


I will not open the umbrella inside my apartment to see if it works. Otherwise 21 days of bad luck is guaranteed. But the danger is not really big. Because I don't have an umbrella.


I have a very good recipe to avoid all these problems and to be save from bad luck. I will blow out all the candles of my birthday cake with a single breath.

But it is not my birthday today. So, I will stay in bed all day long. And hide under my blanket. And my wife has to do her errands herself. Because I am a bit selfish.

Switzerland made me proud

Last Sunday we voted again. On a delicate issue. Free movement of people. Coming to Switzerland. If they wish. And belong to a country of the European Union. In particular from the two newest members of the Union, Bulgaria and Romania.

The Swiss turned out a lot for this vote. Almost 51 % of the voters. And they accepted the free movement. With 59.6 % saying "Yes". We (I am since long) showed the world that we are growing up. That we cannot think that our future and happiness is in Switzerland alone. And that is good. Because, since ever, three quarters of our exports are going to the European Union.


Perhaps we can now also dream (but this is a dream still far away and I might not see this dream come true) and one day sport both the Swiss flag and the European flag. If Switzerland should be a member of the Union.


And at the back of our cars we can, one day perhaps too, put this sticker.

Until the voting day, and the fantastic result, many of us (most of us) did fear that the result would be negative. Because the strongest party, the "Schweizerische Volks Partei" (Swiss People's Party) campaigned in their usual way. I talked about them many times before. Using fallacious, extreme rightist, xenophobic and narrow minded arguments, they could, however, not convince the Swiss.




Now, these two gentlemen (I call them like this because I am decent person) can wonder what went wrong and why the Swiss did not follow them.

The Swiss are growing, politically, and, still thinking that the European Union is nothing for us, came to realize that we cannot live without working with the Union and have made the right choice.

The two leaders of this party simply had not enough power to get through with their indecent arguments. Perhaps, because they are still young and do not have the strenght yet of old politicians.

Unlike the "crocodile" of the party. But then, he was not around anymore to help and guide them. I washed him away on my post "IT IS CONFIRMED" of December 12, 2008. (see here).

I am going to disappoint my wife!

I try to be a good husband. I will disappoint my wife. In my post "Horse Races" I was telling you that I played bets on horses. And I have told you that I have stopped. But from time to time I play now "Euromillions". This is a European lottery and 9 countries are playing it. Which means that the jackpots are huge. Every week.

My wife and I go to Paris two or three times a year for shopping. Just for one day. This is easy because we travel from Switzerland to Paris by the TGV High Speed Train. It takes us 3 hours to reach Paris. This gives us about 6 hours of shopping time before we have to take the train back. Sometimes we stay two or three days. We love Paris.


(La Mongolfière - fotolia.com)

So, I promised my wife that, if we win the jackpot, we will buy an apartment in Paris. In one of those beautiful "hotels particuliers".


(Bertrand Benoit - fotolia.com)

With those lavish and lush apartments with high cealings and big windows. There are many of them and you get gorgeous ones. If you have the means. Which we would have. If we get the jackpot.

But then, as life has it, sometimes your plans are upside down. And most of the time it is me who upsets everything.

On my way back home I stopped in Dubai. My son took me around and made me discover this place. A new world for me. An exciting one.


(Bretin - fotolia.com)

We went to the world famous palm tree and drove around. I saw the great houses one can buy (with many of them having a moring point for a yacht. Which, of course, I would have too. If I win the jackpot). We also went to the replica of the Atlantis hotel (the original is in the Bahamas) where I saw, for the first time in my life, real sharks in the aquarium.


(CPO - fotolia.com)

In the harbor I saw the traditional boats ferrying people around and I wished we had had time to make a small cruise on one of them.


(Sebastian Walter - fotolia.com)

My nostrils were taking in the nice and sweet smell of spices in the market. What a nice change from my tobacco smell. I did breath deeply.


(Akhilesh Sharma - fotolia.com)

But time was limited and I had to go to the airport to fly again. A last glimpse on the skyline and I was on my way again. With the definite and intense wish to come back and to discover more. To indulge in a new world for me.

And, if we get the jackpot, I want to buy a house in Dubai. My wife will be disappointed.

But then, if the jackpot is really big, we also could buy an apartment in Paris. And then both, my wife and I, would be happy.

***

Some issue: I like to put pictures on my blog. As you know, I don't have any because I never owned a camera. And I never worried about having one. So, most of my pictures are coming from "Google Images". However, I have noticed that more and more the "copyright" thing is coming prominently, very prominently. I found now a site where I can buy fotos at a very good, cheap price and I am allowed to put them on my blog. By mentioning the photographer's name and the site where I bought the pictures. That is why you see it after the picture.

Now, I tried to make pictures with my fancy Nokia 5800 (which has a Zeiss objective). I will try (once I have figured out how it works) to put some on the blog. If the result is good, then in the future there might be my own pictures. And if not, I will resolve in buying a camera.

Jazz on the 5th, Nr. 9

What you are going to see this month is a real bijou.

I remember, when I was young and a member of a jazz club, heated discussions about jazz musicians and that "real jazz" was only made by "black" musicians and that "white" musicians were sterile. Now, its is certain that jazz has the roots in Africa (but not only). It is quite complex how it started all, but it is not my intention to make here the history of jazz music. There a huge number of excellent books about it.

The question remains who is the greatest musician. It is simply an issue of taste, of style and which instrument you like. If you like piano jazz you can listen to Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington and many more.

Exciting trumpet players are Harry James, Nat Adderley, Winston Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval, Randy Brecker and, of course, Miles Davis. And many more.

Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Paul Gonsalves, Ben Webster, Cannonball Adderley (Nat's brother), Paquito d'Rivera, James Moody are just a few names that come to my mind as saxophone players. But two true giants of this instrument are John Coltrane and Stan Getz.

I have records of both of them and they enchant me since years. And they are among the musicians I never had the chance to see life. What I did not know either is that they played together. The video you are going to see seems to be the only document showing them performing together. In very good company with Oscar Peterson on the piano and Paul Chambers on the bass. It is a bit lenghty, but I am sure you will enjoy it. John Coltrane's power and Stan Getz's mellow sound. That is why his nickname was "The Sound".



And my apologies to all the musicians I have not mentioned. The list would be so long. But you all, dozens of you, are great musicians and have given me a lot of joy and listening pleasure since 50 years.

HALLELUJAH!!!

This photo of a firework shows you what is happening in my head: Explosions of joy. And the title of the post is what I am singing.

I AM BACK. I have MY Internet. I am with YOU again.

I left Saturday late afternoon and stayed with my son in Dubai. And I reached Montreux a few hours ago and had a wink of sleep.

Today I will have to go and bring the rented car back to AVIS and then I will go through all the post mail and see if there are some urgent bills to pay or matters to take care off.

And then I will start to blog hop. This will be a 24 hour thing, I have a lot to catch up with.

IT IS GREAT TO BE AROUND AGAIN.