• Wrufieotnak
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    1 month ago

    You are muddling two different concepts in your Switzerland argument. You are probably referring to the fact, that Switzerland has a direct democracy for certain political decisions in addition to having a parliament. But that is not why it’s a rich country. That’s because of their big companies who are by no means anything else but die hard capitalistic and self serving. You might know some of them for their evil deeds, for example Nestlé.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I’d argue that a democracy is governing by committe on the biggest scale we have, namely a whole country. This is in contrast to dictatorships.
      Are you arguing that dictatorship is better at governing than a democracy?
      Switzerland is going by the biggest committee there is more than most, and is hugely successful.

      • Wrufieotnak
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        1 month ago

        … Please read my original comment again carefully. I said nowhere that a dictatorship is better at governing. I said that Switzerland is rich because of their companies being capitalistic assholes that would or better ARE right now fucking up the planet and the rest of humanity. You can read on Wikipedia about Nestle, the Nazi gold and tax haven, the Russian influence, etc. That is how Switzerland got really rich, not due to their direct democracy (which I find awesome).

        You could argue that there is a small connection between both, since the neutrality of Switzerland was part of why so many companies and banks managed to get big.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          You say Switzerland is rich because of Nestle, OK how much tax does Nestle pay in Switzerland? And how much is that of the total.
          I didn’t respond to your Nestle argument, because it’s silly.
          7 of the 10 richest companies in the world are American, so how exactly is Switzerland rich because of 1 company that is ranked 96 on fortune 500?

          https://fortune.com/ranking/global500/2024/search/