A haven for tax cheats... (Score 1)

Of course, underlying a lot of this discussion should be the fact the Swiss banks are bleeding, because the wealthy tax cheats from the U.S. are closing up accounts, and moving them offshore to a 'different' tax haven. This has less to do with privacy than it does with business, or catering to the wealthy. True, the U.S has gone a bit over the edge with its paranoia over terrorists and is dealing with the consequences of selling its soul to international corporations. We have allowed our manufacturing base to disappear, and our economy is based on endless consumption of Chinese made objects. While we have exported our jobs, skills and environmental problems abroad, we have become a nation of undereducated, unappreciative whiners with an absurd sense of entitlement. Our government has become a finger pointing club where representative spend their time blaming or discrediting their opponents, rather than negotiating or cooperating with each other for the good of the people they claim to represent. Freedoms have become secondary to security, in a county founded on the rights and responsibilities of the individual, because of endless fear mongering in attempts to distract people from the fact that the infrastructure of the country is collapsing around them. We can spend money to fight foreign wars, but not to heal sick children or seniors. We can bail out huge banks, but not help small businesses find loans to grow and survive. We have sadly, lost our way, lost the voices of our great newspapers or journalists to remind us of our loss of direction, and are drifting along in an orgy of consumerism and self indulgence. The great news is we can talk to each other about it all the time on our cell phones, which are probably an even greater source of 'loss of privacy' than international banking information....