@CanuckDoc found this story and suggests that it should be given a separate post, as it is a mainstream story about Banks shutting out Americans Abroad.
The story was originally posted at USA Today and then picked up at ABC News. It will be interesting to watch today to see if it starts showing up elsewhere. It it ever gets discussed on Brian Williams NBC nightly news, so my 86 year old mother sees it, you will know the story finally came back to the homeland! I don’t expect to hear or see it there, however.
Lots of diversions.
USA Today and ABC news have reported upon FATCA and its negative consequences upon US citizens!!!!!!
This is a big event. Perhaps NBC, NPR, and others now believe that it is the latest news to report upon FATCA and its ridiculousness. Perhaps they have begun to expose what “Global Elites” and “Economic Patriotism” really mean, without really saying it. AcA has succeeded to reach the media!!!!!
SwissPinoy,
You are correct. For American ex-pats, renouncing one’s US citizenship is paradoxically a true act of patriotism.
Schumer take note! You need to change the name of your bill.
@Badger: what is your point? That some elite PC “scientists” have decided that the science is in and that there are little or no differences between the races? Are you asking us to ignore what our own eyes see in pro football or basketball or the complete failure inner city education (more here and here) ?
What the warmists, the multiculturalists, the feminists, the keynsians fail to realize that when you politicize science and warp it to fit your social agenda, that you discredit it entirely. And it doesn’t help that all these “scientists” graduating from the elite north eastern universities all make it into the Nomenklatura.
@Shadow Raider, who wrote:
No need to apologize.
Yet I think that there is a need for a little context. To be sure, it is wrong to bully; I agree. Children everywhere are terrible to one another. Very often, principals of schools do little to discourage it. What makes the Swiss different? Here it is: Swiss Germans go to school in a foreign language that many of them have difficulty with. That foreign language is called hoch Deutsch (High German), or “Standard German” (in French, le bon allemand). Now imagine that you are five years old and you go to school and the teachers force not just you but everyone else to learn, speak and write in a foreign language. Often your own language is downgraded and even mocked. The Germans say, “Das Schweitzerdeutsch ist eine Mundkrankheit” (oder Halskrankheit) (“Swiss German is a Mouth/throat disease”): this could lead to a complex and/or resentment towards high German. Then some kids not from the village arrive and they speak that foreign language essentially as native speakers. They have a superior grasp and pronunciation of this school language. Yes it is wrong to pick on them. But methinks this is a disaster waiting to happen. Imagine if Americans had to go to school in Dutch, and a kid shows up in their class from the Netherlands?
My response to your view that the Swiss are like Americans is:(1) the Swiss are not monolithic and have multiple linguistic, ethnic and political divisions; (2) all Swiss people are much more like each other than they are like Americans; (3) the Swiss are more similar to Americans than they are to some groups such as the Chinese or Sub-Saharan Africans.
But let’s break down WhoaIt’sSteve’s comment to ConfederateH a little:
As for ConfederateH, he, after many years of living in a Swiss village, has an appreciation for these people, and yet WhoaIt’sSteve, who has never lived there now accuses Confederate of racism–when he has shown the opposite of racism: i.e., tolerance and appreciation for another way of life–and especially the willingness to learn a new language. Now, after having Confederate’s description of his village, Whoa judges him and them as uncivilized, close-minded, and inbred. Wow.
My First Nations friend hates the movies “Dances with Wolves” and “Avatar”. I thought they were great. But I see his point now. Even when the multiculturalists are being sympathetic, they cannot help but be condescending and paternalistic.
One can only laugh at those who point the finger at secluded alpine villages and say the behavior of this or that people is “wrong.” It’s not wrong. It’s as it is. Too bad it’s hard for some to accept. Too bad it’s politically incorrect. This is the condition of humanity. The Swiss alpine villagers represent a way of life and thinking that goes back for as long as there have been home sapiens. For centuries they even resisted Christanity and there were pockets of pagan valleys and settlements away from the mountain passes well into the Middle Ages. Their distrust of outsiders is precisely the reason they’re still around. Far from being punished, I believe that a thousand years from now, they will still be there, living from their own labor. What about us city dwellers? We might be living in bombed-out ruins for all I know.
Myself, I wouldn’t necessarily move into a secluded village, but neither do I feel I can judge those for whom it’s a way of life.
*Wellington, the unemployment rate in the mountains of Graubünden is 1.2%
http://www.suedostschweiz.ch/wirtschaft/graubuenden-hat-12-prozent-arbeitslose
The 11.4% unemployment rate in the EU is at its highest ever:
http://bazonline.ch/wirtschaft/unternehmen-und-konjunktur/Arbeitslosigkeit-in-der-EU-steigt-auf-Rekordwert/story/19855963
I once lived in a secluded village in Graubünden, and I absolutely loved it. I would love to move back to Graubünden, but the 2.6% unemployment rate in my region isn’t pressuring any need to relocate.
Graubünden is my favorite region in Switzerland, and I could easily imagine living there. After all, living around Pontresina for example wouldn’t mean being deprived of modern necessities (St. Moritz isn’t too far away).
This doesn’t mean that life in the mountains is always easy. Overpopulation and lack of prospects have always made young people leave their villages to try their chances in the valleys and cities.
Thanks to all you Swiss friends for commenting on your Swiss experiences. Petros thanks for pointing out the inbred slur. But actually there is some truth in it. My wife is a Bündnerlander from Prättigau where her mother emigrated from in 1929 at age 2. My wifes grand father was from Jenaz and her grandmother was from Schiers. Her cousins from Küblis, Klosters and Jenaz took us under their wings when we first moved to Switzerland. My wifes father is from Hallau and he has always said that those Prättigauers were inbred and that is what the Swiss from big cities think. The valley we have been living in is a side valley to the Töggenburg because there are no IT jobs in Graubunden and it is too far to commute to Zürich. I too love Graubünden and our kids learned to ski (and later board) at Madrisa and Davos.
We ended up in a remote village because we saw how accelerated (children lose their innocence too soon) and depraved life was becoming in the US and especially California where we had been living. We liked the ultra conservative and old fashion way that the Swiss system works (apprenticeships, guilds) and we wanted our children to be able to grow up without all the US media, the sexuality, the ghetto culture, the gay culture. I am sure you all understand what I am writing about. I would say that in general it all turned out well except that our son died in a house fire in Lucerne a few years ago. This has nothing really to do with Switzerland but one can always play “what if” games to get really depressed.
On the subject of bullying I would like to relate my experience at a Canadian Boarding school. My father pulled me out of elementary school at the age of 13 and sent me off to 8th grade at Shawnigan Lake Boys School on Vancouver Island, at that time a very strict British style school. I was beaten with a cain by the headmaster on a few occasions for smoking and disobedience. I had not yet reached puberty and was the smallest boy in the school for my first 2 years. I was the only American in the “junior” dorm (one large room with 6 bunk beds) with 12 other boys, mostly Canadian. One Canadian boy hated me from the beginning, his father worked for a logging company in Kitimat, I believe. He and his buddies would tease me and bully me to no end partially because I was American. A couple of times I ended up at the housemasters house in tears, which only made it worse. In one brutal episode I ended up curled up in the corner in the shower with several Canadian boys whipping with their folded up towels that we called “rat tails”. But even worse that all that was the fact that even at the age of 14 in the 9th grade that I had not reached puberty and it was all on display in those large open showers after Rugby, Crew and Cricket. One of the guys who never bullied me and stood up for me was a Canadian of Indian descent, so in this case I can say that by my direct experience dark skinned Indians are less racist than white Canadians.
And on a final note concerning racism I would like to retell a story about my son’s girlfriend who is the mother of my grandson. She is a Berner and if Americans think New Yorkers are arrogant they might understand a little how Berners are. When they were looking for a house with a garden to rent she refused to go farther east than Aarau because she didn’t want her son to get a Zürich accent (swallowing his “R”‘s I guess). But the real affront to me was when she told me she wasn’t going to marry my son because she didn’t want their son to have an Italian name (my family name is Italian). The Swiss are actually pretty “racist” but in a traditional European sense that North Americans really don’t understand. The Swiss Germans call Italians “chinks” and for centuries they have looked down on them. The word n**** is still used by many Swiss but it doesn’t have the same PC explosives attached to it here.
@ConfH,
My sincere condolences on the loss of one of your sons in a fire. I can’t even imagine your loss and hope you don’t often go to the “What If” questions to blame yourself. Your family has had its share of tragedy, including the repulsive bullying. I’m glad you had someone (incidentally of dark skin) that stood up for you. That ally in other cases might be someone different and, I think, has little or nothing to do with determining who or who not is “racist”. Such are the stories of many of our families, a mixtue of tragedy and wonderfulness. The common thread in all our varying stories is that many innocent people in these “US” families abroad are now being bullied by the US because of the US citizenship-based taxation. May we all come through to the other side stronger. My best to your family.
@Calgary411: Thank you for the kind note. In some ways were are blessed because our sons death was really a freak accident and we played no role in the events leading up to it. I can easily see how the lives of soldiers could be ruined with the feelings of guilt for the death of a close comrade on the battlefield. I would also say that I really cannot fathom how I would feel and react were I in your shoes with a dependent child who was caught in welfare state no-mans land.
Thank you, ConfH. Take care.
Wait a second, wait a second, I don’t think the statement I made about inbreeding was a slur, and it wasn’t directed at Confederate H, I was questioning his weird admiration for a village of people so narrow minded, and backwards that they permitted and obviously condoned bullying children for speaking the wrong dialect. And before now I hadn’t even thought that he was intolerant, racist, or close minded just that he was giving excuses for those that are, however after reading about how he wanted to “protect” his children from the evils of the modern world including “gay culture” whatever the eff that is (speaking as a gay male,) I think you’d be right to insinuate that those labels are floating around in my consciousness.
Also just because something is old doesn’t make it right, slavery is old way back to the time of ancient civilizations, yet now we condemn it globally, child soldiers, and females as basically property with no legal rights are old too back to the time of Torah/the Bible, yet of course we condemn it, child labor might be even the oldest too, and is again condemned by our Western society. It’s not something you can just basically brush off by saying it’s old so it’s fine, that is anti-social and our society as a whole has deemed that it is not Ok.
You were bullied, mercilessly yet you praise and admire this village society which does it and condones it to your very own child? Seriously?
Saying “traditional’ European racism doesn’t make it ok. Just as saying that the amount of racism in the United States is ok either, no amount of racism is ok. I’m shocked by these people who now make their lives in Switzerland, just casually throwing out how it’s actually a pretty brutal, intolerant, racist, close minded, country full of hate, it’s kind of shattering the positive images and connotations I had of the Swiss, alas I guess reality can never really match our expectations.
*WhoaIt’sSteve,
no place is perfect. Switzerland can be very liberal or very conservative. It can be tolerant or racist. It is all a matter of who one encounters when and where. The US is no different in this regards, but is often considered as having greater extremes. Every society needs its conservative and liberal elements which work together to create a balance (Yin-Yang). Living in a small village with narrow minded can be very beneficial, but life in the cities can be great too. The best of this is that one can choose what one wants.
Living in a small village with narrow minded can be very challenging. Yet, if one can find a way to fit in (which may take years), then it can be very rewarding and worth the effort.
I actually left Switzerland for the US due to bullying, but then returned to Switzerland due to bullying in the US, and then went back to the US and then back to Switzerland and then so on and so fourth. Being a dual citizen can be quite tricky, but eventually one learns the tricks of the trade.
*ConfederateH, there have been two times in the past where I made use of the term “[n-word]”. The first time, I called an individual a “[n-word]” in response to the many things that he called me, such as monkey, turd, nerd, little shit, etc. I figured that if he could call me anything, then I could call him anything too. Nobody seemed to mind all of the things that he called me, but when I said “[n-word]”, the room fell silent. I was accused of being a racist. He demanded an apology and threatened with physical violence. I responded that I’d be happy to apologize if he apologized first. Yet, instead of apologizing, he resorted to violence and got suspended. I was threatened at home and they tried to label me as being a racist at school. Yet, my best friend at the time was born in Africa, and thus the racist label didn’t stick very well. Yet, the name-calling did stop. Sometimes, one must take unusual measures to achieve change which would otherwise not be possible.
The second time, my dark-skinned buddy called me a “[n-word]” and I called him the same. It was an expression of friendship and I had a lot of respect for the guy.