[Kaslin]

The entire title is: Portugal May Become the First of Europe’s Bankrupt Welfare States to Stumble upon a Genuine Recovery Formula: Less Spending AND Lower Tax Rates

[17th Miss Regt]

European nations may be finding that fiscal discipline is a good thing and that it encourages growth. But I think they are really following these policies to demonstrate their racial hatred of a black man in the White House.

(/Democrat)

[PGR88]

I’ve been waiting for Greece to “go bankrupt” and “pull out of the Euro” for 3 years.

Frankly, I think the EU governing clique, along with the ECB are a lot stronger and more capable of muddling through (and totally willing to fight until the bitter end for their progressive dreams) than everyone believes

[Mr. K]

And they are planning to tax their way out of it?

Nice- we’re planning to do the same thing- let’s watch to see how well it works.

I guess the past 100% of the times it has been tried and it failed were all different somehow

[pgkdan]

Switzerland surely is at the top of the list. The burden of government spending is modest by European standards, in part because of a very good spending cap that prevents politicians from overspending when revenues are buoyant. Tax rates also are reasonable. The central government’s tax system is “progressive,” but the top rate is only 11.5 percent. And tax competition among the cantons ensures that sub-national tax rates don’t get too high. Because of these good policies, Switzerland completely avoided the fiscal crisis plaguing the rest of the continent.

Sounds like a good place to be!

[alloysteel]

Switzerland is surely one of the more successful nations in today’s world.

Place the praise for this achievement where it belongs - the native good sense of the Swiss people, which demands that every male Swiss citizen also be a member of the Swiss army, and as such, MUST keep a firearm in good working order in every household.

This is one of the primary reasons Switzerland has never been invaded. When Hitler threatened to do just that in 1940, when he was overrunning the rest of Europe, the Swiss coldly informed him that every mountain pass, every railroad and road tunnel, every bridge, would be dynamited, making passege through the country impossible, and the Swiss citizenry would be firing down on every member of the Wehrmacht still remaining in the borders of Switzerland.

Enemy combatants from either side, should they land in Swiss territory, were interned until the end of the war, asylum was not considered.

Switzerland was also very resistant to accepting any “displaced persons” or refugees from other areas in the years following the end of the war, only agreeing to accept a very minimum of “stateless” persons, but granting them only residency, not citizenship, and only on a limited basis.

Ownership of property is one of the paramont virtues of the Swiss, and that includes the limitations on that which may be claimed by any level of government. Swiss banks have a reputation for secrecy, but that was more a courtesy to the foreign depositors there, than from any bound requirement for privacy. Earning on investments orginating from Switzerland are subject to only very modest Swiss taxation, which makes the banking profession there among the most respected and conservative in the world. The Swiss are not in it to LOSE money.

Their money, the franc, is backed with very solid reserves of gold and silver, and in fact, the one-half to five franc coins were among the few in the world still coined with silver content, but this was changed in 1967. Swiss francs are still one of the premier currencies in the world, and the central treasury keeps tight rein on supplies of this currency.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Kind an annoying editorial thing is that when a subject is in your headline, you should begin by discussing it. In this article, there is little substantive mention of Portugal until halfway through page 2.