UBS

UBS is Switzerland's biggest bank. It lost heavily in the subprime crisis and its aftershocks, needed government assistance, and now had to pay $780 million to the U.S. government because UBS systematically helped U.S. clients to commit tax fraud. According to U.S. officials about 20.000 clients withdrew approximately $20 billion from taxation.

For the first time ever information about 300 clients was transferred from Switzerland to the IRS. This means the Swiss bank secret is no more. There is a huge outcry in the press, naming the data transfer (not the money transfer) "illegal", calling for a new (i.e., legal) strategy for Swiss banking. It's all very interesting.

The worst taste showed a local yellow press paper with a picture of Obama: "Yes, I can half the U.S. deficit by 2012 - thanks to the many billions that we'll get out of the Swiss banks."

New Years

After Christmas I've visited Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Upsalla. Watched fireworks with friends.

Bambi

Yesterday I was at the Zurich train station. They have a huge Christmas tree in an indoor Christmas market. In the shop next to the tree I found compelling evidence that having money is orthogonal to having good taste.

Vacation

Yesterday I returned from a week-long vacation. I was first for the weekend visiting friends in Bonn, Germany and then for another week in Mariawald, Heimbach, Germany. I was staying in a 600 year old monastery occupied by Trappist monks and three novices.


The monastery is pretty remote. Actually for the last couple of kilometers I had to walk a rather steep and slightly muddy path trough the woods uphill because there was no bus and a taxi would have taken 1.5h to arrive. I still arrived a little late and very sweaty.


The place itself was very beautiful. The landscape, the rooms, everything was tidy and clean and in order. Food was simple but fresh and well prepared. There was no radio, no TV, no internet, no distractions.

Most impressive were the monks. They live a really strict and ascetic life. They get up at 4am to go to the cold church and pray for 1 hour (1.5 hours on Sundays). They chant Gregorian songs, they speak Psalms and traditional prayers in German and in Latin. Throughout the day they meet 7 times in the church for the hourly prayers. They eat no meat, sleep on straw, live in a very moderately heated place, have no possessions, never leave the monastery, spend most of the day in silence. Many of them are also rather old. The impressive thing is though that these monks are genuinely happy. They are cheerful, have warm and strong voices, they see a purpose in their efforts, know exactly what they are doing. Amazing.

Geld 2

"Banker streichen trotz Krise über 70 Milliarden ein
Zahlungen an der Wall-Street in keinem Verhältnis zum Wertverlust

[...] Die Papiere der Citigroup und von Goldman Sachs fielen um über 45 Prozent. Die Titel von Merrill Lynch und Morgan Stanley gingen sogar um über 60% in den Keller. Die bisherigen Gesamtbezüge der Morgan-Stanley-Mitarbeiter von fast 10,7 Mrd. Dollar seien zwischenzeitlich sogar höher als der Börsenwert des Unternehmens gewesen." [NZZ Online, 18. Oktober 2008]

Opera

Yesterday the Swiss television recorded the opera La Traviata in the Zurich train station. Singers sang on trains, in little train station bistros, in the large hall in the center. A major logistic effort. I saw at least three conductors at some point. Cameras everywhere. Nice crowd of spectators, some dressed like opera, stood patiently during the whole thing.

As an opera experience it was actually a failure: Most of the time you could hear either the singers or the orchestra. Also, the acoustics was really bad and unless you stood within a meter from the singer you couldn't actually hear very much. Except for the soprano whose voice worked well in the huge open space.




Still, at the end it became very clear to me why people invented opera houses.

Geld

"Die Realwirtschaft ist in Geiselhaft der Finanzwirtschaft und ihrer Habgier geraten und hat diese Gaunerei auszubaden." [Edgar Oehler, Chef des Thurgauer Bauausrüsters Arbonia Forster (AFG), NZZ, 29.09.08]

"Egoismus und Geldgier führen in die Katastrophe. Jetzt sind wir da." [Johann Schneider-Ammann, Präsident des Industrieverbands Swissmem, Chef der Langenthaler Maschinenbauerin Ammann Group, NZZ, ebd.]

"Gebt mir die Kontrolle über das Geld einer Nation und es kümmert mich nicht länger, wer dessen Gesetze macht." [Mayer Amselm Rothschild, 18th century]