Crimes of the Swiss

Former Senator Phil Gramm resigned as national co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign, ostensibly for making dumb comments about how the bad economic times were just a problem of mental perception by "whining" Americans.  But the resignation came just in time to avoid a much bigger scandal for McCain.  Phil Gramm's day job is Vice Chairman of the Swiss banking giant UBS, which is now in the cross-hairs of the Internal Revenue Service and the Senate Banking committee:

The hearing centered on a 115-page report into alleged abuses by UBS in Switzerland and the smaller LGT Bank in Liechtenstein.

"The evidence we have been able to obtain breaks through some of the wall of secrecy to show that these two banks have employed banking practices that facilitate, and have resulted in, tax evasion by US clients," said Senator Carl Levin, who led the six-month investigation.
The offshore tax evasion problem is of "staggering proportions," said Senator Norm Coleman.

"These tax havens hold an estimated 1.5 trillion dollars in American assets, resulting in lost taxes of roughly 100 billion dollars," he said.

So Senator Gramm was on the executive committee of a major bank engaged in massive criminal activity in the United States.

The business model for the nation of Switzerland is simple:  establish Bank Secrecy Laws and take in deposits from dictators, tax evaders, military juntas, and hedge fund managers.  In exchange for not disclosing account information, the Swiss pay out below market investment rates and pay themselves hefty "management fees".  That is the the basis of the Swiss economy, and they have prospered for decades by aiding and abetting regimes like Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe and the military junta in Myanmar,  They then hire scum like Phil Gramm to provide an aura of legitimacy to what can only be described as a criminal enterprise.

But both the United States government and the European Union -especially Germany - are fed up with the the Swiss Bank Secrecy Laws. Blogger Jochen Hoff asks if the game is over for Switzerland.  If so, UBS may no longer be able to afford Senator Gramm's multi-million $$ compensation package.  The senator may have to go back to producing soft-porn videos.

Comments

[Hattie]

I may be wrong here, but I am not sure UBS has violated any laws. Not if they operate under Swiss laws, which do not consider tax evasion a crime.
Every once in a while the U.S. gov't leans on Swiss banks if too much money is getting away, but I don't think they have any real authority to bring the Swiss banks to heel.
It's not right, of course, but the Swiss point of view is, "We are a small, resource poor country, and we have to get by."

[David]

The Swiss made a pact with the devil to guarantee their "security" and prosperity.

Duerrenmatt wrote about this in his plays and novels. Read his speech in honor of Vaclav Havel: Die Schweiz - ein Gefaengnis? ? / Switzerland - a Prison?

[Hattie]

Or maybe a gilded cage! What a bunch of hypocrites they are. I'm kind of glad I got to sit out the 70's and early eighties there, though. Nice place to raise a family.