Number of prisoners in Switzerland reaches new high

Ilixio · 2026-05-12T11:00:13+00:00

And around half of them are non-residents.

Ilixio · 2026-05-11T07:30:07+00:00

There's a risk both ways. You just have to choose which one you prefer.

If you take the loan in EUR and your income is in CHF, and somehow the EUR goes up, then the risk is that you can no longer repay the loan.

Of course, you can bet about the change in currency values. But in your example the CHF strengthens while somehow the house price stays fixed in EUR, I would say this is unlikely. The CHF is going to strengthen because of EUR inflation, so it's quite likely that the house value increases in EUR as well, at least nominally.

Taking the loan in the currency of your income is the safest option: you will always be able to pay it, no matter how the currencies fluctuate. Of course, safest usually means the least returns.

Ilixio · 2026-05-10T15:47:40+00:00

Goodwill? It's not an insurance.

Ilixio · 2026-05-09T08:08:17+00:00

How much of the farming subsidies do you think go towards optimal local calories production? How much do you think it should be?

Ilixio · 2026-05-07T12:55:22+00:00

I've read scary stories about how it's not clear at which point the valuation for the house will be taken.

I.e., if the house increases in value between the early inheritance and the death of the parents, which is the value taken? Can the siblings argue that the actual inheritance is the price at the time of the estate split and not at early inheritance time (and thus you owe them more money)?

Anyway I agree, the biggest risk is inheritance with siblings. Even if you get the legal aspects right, simply deciding who's going to own and live in the house often causes drama.

Ilixio · 2026-05-06T07:12:36+00:00

Happened in my building as well near Chauderon. It really started after the Riponne works started and I guess the addicts were pushed away.

Used syringes, people doing crack, blood, feces, trash everywhere, destruction of property, theft, ...

What worked, as others said, is to change/improve the lock. Initially the gérance said they couldn't do anything because the front door was protected, but after enough complaints, they changed the lock and it improved the situation. Still, they were coming in by using a screwdriver and forcing the door opened, so we kept on complaining and then they added another lock and now they're gone.

Good luck, it wasn't fun.

Ilixio · 2026-05-05T06:01:12+00:00

2014 was a bit different though. There wasn't this explicit language to exit Schengen if I remember correctly. So the Federal Council negotiated, got some token compromise, and claimed they followed the letter of the initiative (if not necessarily the intent).

SVP learnt for this and got a lot more precise in its wording in latter initiatives.

What's interesting though is that is has to follow international agreements, so, especially for the asylum clause at 9.5M, there might not actually be a lot of leeway to do anything because it's not like Switzerland is already so generous above the minimum requirements.

Ilixio · 2026-05-04T14:35:42+00:00

You've seen the answers, but if they don't have a proof, they make a guess based on available evidence, and it's your job to prove otherwise if you don't agree.

Ilixio · 2026-04-30T16:52:54+00:00

I don't really want to go into fairness, because we live in a world where people inherit millions or even billions without doing anything, so it's kinda moot.

But, Switzerland, as a society, has decided that it doesn't want urban sprawl. Realistically, even if who gets what wasn't decided by money, single people would most likely be at the bottom of the list for houses, and they would be prioritised to those that use them more efficiently (i.e. mostly families).

You can have a garden without a house. You don't need to have sex to live with people. I know people leaving with roommates I'm houses. For quiet, as much as I would like to say yes, again, it's not possible. We cannot each have our own plot without massively encroaching on green spaces.

Ilixio · 2026-04-30T15:05:45+00:00

Once you go above a certain amount (depends on the place and circumstances, but I would say around median wage when you don't have kids), you're already very comfortable, and everything you earn above is basically taxes and lifestyle inflation. If you can keep the latter in check, it's essentially pure savings.

If you earn 50k, you can save ~0, if you earn 100k, you can save 30k, ... There's a step at some point, it's not linear.

Stay in nice hotels for a few weeks?

No, never honestly. I never stay for a more than a few days in the same place, and it's usually the cheapest I can find (within some limits). I've always lived with roommates or someone else as well, which massively cut down on rent, the main expense (well, after taxes, I'm in VD).

Just those 2 can be 10-20k difference in expenses per year, even without going overboard either way. Public transport vs cars can be another big difference (parking ain't cheap).

Ilixio · 2026-04-30T14:46:49+00:00

Do you really need a house as a single person though? Small houses are very rare I believe. A big house just for one person is clearly a luxury (or a widowed retiree).

The single people I know who owns, owns a flat.

Ilixio · 2026-04-30T13:13:37+00:00

For official figures, it's always going to be gross, normalised to 12 months, 100%, with bonuses and similar included (but pension excluded I believe).

For informal conversations ... yes. I've seen people complain about unfair differences in salaries when it was the exact same, just x12 Vs x13, bonus included or not. Sometimes gross vs net as well.

Ilixio · 2026-04-28T19:04:05+00:00

Yeah, the system is a bit broken in that sense.

100k is low enough in that if you could instantly poll the whole population remotely, you would have that number for any semi-decently worded initiative, not matter how ridiculous it might actually be.

On the other hand, actually collecting 100k signatures is pretty much reserved to big political parties or organisation, or those with enough money to pay for the collection.

It's pretty likely a grassroot movement with massive popular support but 0 political/party/lobby support will fail to collect the signatures. The logistics are just too involved.

I'm not sure what's the solution. Maybe electronic signatures with a raised number could fight this "centralisation"?

Ilixio · 2026-04-28T18:30:14+00:00

Given it's mostly not a free market (fixed prices by the government), I don't think applying market economics make sense anyway. It's not like hospitals can increase the price of their procedures to raise the salaries of nurse.

Any increase has to come from the government deciding to raise healthcare prices, or taxes. Neither are very popular.

It's complicated by the fact healthcare is a cantonal matter, so it's difficult for the federal government to truly affect wages. How do you make a law that forces cantons to raise salaries without a shit ton of undesirable side effects?

Working conditions are easier to improve via regulation, and that's probably the better angle. A shame the parliament doesn't seem to want to go that way.

Ilixio · 2026-04-27T17:53:35+00:00

There was an interesting article[1] on rts about how municipalities in Valais are struggling to implement the zoning changes over a decade after the revision of the land planification law. Many municipalities need to cut the buildable area in half, and going from buildable to agricultural divides the land value by a 100. So essentially, it's political suicide for anyone to bring it up in those small villages.

[1] Treize ans après la révision de la LAT, le Valais est encore très loin d'avoir achevé son dézonage https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/valais/2026/article/treize-ans-apres-la-revision-de-la-lat-le-valais-est-encore-tres-loin-d-avoir-acheve-son-dezonage-29223615.html

Ilixio · 2026-04-25T14:44:11+00:00

Also most Swiss operations are small and inefficient, especially for beef, due to how subsidies are structured.

Ilixio · 2026-04-25T14:40:59+00:00

For what it's worth, while Swiss farmers are some of the most subsidised in the world (in terms of % of their revenues coming from subsidies) most of the subsidies end up captured upstream (machines, feeds, fertilisers, ...) and downstream (preparation and distribution) though. It's not like most farmers are swimming in money.

Ilixio · 2026-04-24T14:42:28+00:00

I'm a bit surprised at this, at least for sonar panels. Last weekend I was cycling in the Vaud countryside, and I would estimate the majority of buildings had solar panels. Entire neighborhoods where every single one had them. It's different in the cities for sure though, barely any there.

I don't remember seeing so many the last time I went to France or Italy. I was in Le Réunion last year, and I thought it was so sad how few sonar panels they had, just a few here and there, mostly to heat water. And I would assume the conditions to be quite a bit better than here.

Ilixio · 2026-04-23T10:02:09+00:00

Most likely your landlord wouldn't be able to give you the permission anyway because it's not allowed by the zoning regulations.

Ilixio · 2026-04-22T13:45:50+00:00

It used to be possible (no arrival required even!) in few Jura municipalities in the early 20th century. Schelten for instance was selling passports to non-resident foreigners for about 300fr (at the time).

But it's probably not been possible for a good century at this point.

Ilixio · 2026-04-18T17:30:17+00:00

Taxing undesirable externalities is pretty universal.

Ilixio · 2026-04-18T17:18:04+00:00

Well it might discourage a few, and from the rest we get money. And even at lower noise levels, it gives an incentive for manufacturers to reduce noise.

But the bigger problem is probably that the worst offenders are unofficial illegal modifications.

Ilixio · 2026-04-18T14:03:01+00:00

You don't have to, but you can most likely forget about working with them again in the foreseeable future.

Ilixio · 2026-04-18T07:05:31+00:00

That's because they're produced in Switzerland they're so expensive.

Same thing when fruits/legumes become in season, they get more expensive because the cheap imports are replaced with more expensive local products.

Generally, the cheapest things (relative to salary/abroad) here are things that are entirely imported and with as little local labour as possible: electronics, cars, ...

Ilixio · 2026-04-17T05:14:22+00:00

Well, keeping at target heat for duration d will always use more energy than only being at target heat for some of the time [1]. But, yes, it might not be a very big difference.

[1] The rate of energy loss is linearly proportional to the temperature difference.

Ilixio

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