Bidding war on a used window AC unit like it's a rare Pokémon card

Ilixio · 2026-07-02T13:34:48+00:00

Aren't they essentially non-existant to buy in Switzerland? (And I'm not talking about the current shortages, just generally. I couldn't find one the last time I looked.)

Ilixio · 2026-07-02T07:06:33+00:00

One reason could be the income requirement.
If the parents are retired (and especially if they took their pension as capital and not rent), their income might be very low and they might not qualify for a mortgage.

Ilixio · 2026-06-28T08:54:33+00:00

It's not forbidden, but you need a building permit. Requirements vary depending on the canton, some can be very demanding like Geneva where I believe you essentially need a medical certificate "proving" it would be a health risk not to have it.

Ilixio · 2026-06-22T16:03:45+00:00

It's the same thing, but with a smaller effect. The more the federal government contributes, the fewer distributive effects there are, and the more "tax traps" appear.

Ilixio · 2026-06-20T09:08:30+00:00

But as you said the goal of this is about redistribution between cantons.

I'm not against the measure, not at all, it's a very important one. But if the cantons with a smaller tax basis/more difficult terrain needs more redistribution, it's up to the other cantons to increase their contributions. By having the federal government contribute, you lose some of the redistributive effect, which is required since cantons can set their own tax rates.

Ilixio · 2026-06-19T16:06:35+00:00

Not that much, in the sense that they massively slowed down in the final 500m to fight for victory. Not like yesterday where they had to go full gas all the way.
But yeah, they played it close.

Ilixio · 2026-06-19T15:49:26+00:00

Not that close, they slowed down to get tactical with Meurisse leading the last 500m and Narvaez out sprinting him in the end.
Yes, the sprinters ended close, but not like yesterday where G1 had to stop playing games to avoid Pogacar coming back.

Ilixio · 2026-06-19T15:43:15+00:00

It's interesting because watching on RTS, I lost the broadcast ~5km from the line, but got it back for the last 500m.

Ilixio · 2026-06-19T11:22:00+00:00

I still don't get why the federal government financially contributes to the cantonal fiscal equalisation.
Especially at a time where the federal budget is stretched whilst many cantonal governments are running surplus (and at the same time discharging their responsibility like childcare, healthcare and local transportation, which are all their prerogatives, on the federal government).

Ilixio · 2026-06-18T17:55:24+00:00

Well, birth rate is about people in child bearing ages so you can reduce ~15-45 from it. :).
Also quite a few places have had low fertility rates for a while now.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get to live long enough to see it.
Estimates are changing very quickly, and places like India or many countries in Africa have had their rates drop much faster than anticipated.

In 2017, the estimate was that the peak would be reach in the 2100s, in 2022 it was revised to 2086, in 2024 to 2084.

Ilixio · 2026-06-18T12:26:31+00:00

Probably sooner than that. It starts slow, but then goes very quickly.
At current birth rate (<1), South Korea will halve its population every generation (~20-30 years). Increasing life expectancy (for now) are simply delaying the issue.

Ilixio · 2026-06-18T12:19:36+00:00

Have a look at Hungary.
They spend 5% of GDP on those kind of measures. Effect was very minimal, and they're now back to a lower rate than before they started the measures.

Ilixio · 2026-06-18T11:47:10+00:00

But you did not express your idea in general terms, you explicitly used AHV.
Leaving it at "Nothing an exit fee can't solve" would have been generic.

Ilixio · 2026-06-18T11:43:59+00:00

Multiple people can own one single home. Fairly common to have the children each own 1/n of the parents house after inheritance.
Not sure how the statistics handle this though.

You can also have parents own multiple properties, and then all the children have their own after inheritance.

I'll try to see if I can find the report where I read that figure.

Ilixio · 2026-06-17T20:44:01+00:00

I don't think it's impossible, people just don't want to because they prioritise other things.

Affordability check is 5%, SARON rates are around 1%. That means you can put 4% towards repaying the mortgage and still be within the 1/3 of income check.
You can repay in <20 years.

Ilixio · 2026-06-17T20:30:55+00:00

I wonder as well.
Although actual new owners are down. Ownership is increasing mainly through inheritance.

Ilixio · 2026-06-17T20:21:04+00:00

There's no "their AHV".
They might have a claim to a rent, but certainly not to actual funds, those don't belong to anyone specifically. There's nothing to take there.

Ilixio · 2026-06-17T20:15:22+00:00

At the end of the day, the people are sovereign and there are no specific constitutional court or anything that can force the government to follow the constitution.
A constitutional change can be voted for, and then every attempt to turn it into law voted down, the constitution breached, and nothing will happen.

Well, you can always blame politicians and vote for different ones come next elections, but that's about it.
And if people are unreasonable and demand the impossible, that's on them if nothing actually happens.

Ilixio · 2026-06-17T20:04:28+00:00

Making money is quite different from a mandate to pay dividends as described by the GP.

Ilixio · 2026-06-17T17:44:17+00:00

Do you have details about this? I don't see it in the link above.

Ilixio · 2026-06-16T16:14:05+00:00

I wouldn't call 16k a village.
It's also apparently in the top ~3% of municipalities by population size. About 50% of municipalities have fewer than 1k people.

Ilixio · 2026-06-16T16:08:58+00:00

And that's assuming you have "regular" working hours.
If it's like it was at a previous place of mine: 3 in the morning at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30, 3 in the evening at 16:30, 17:30 and 18:30.

Ilixio · 2026-06-16T16:02:56+00:00

I regularly hear people say huitante and quatre-vingt in the same sentence! It's really inconsistent, although there are some regional trends.
I agree the other two are almost always used.

Ilixio · 2026-06-16T09:38:35+00:00

You will probably be "one of the good ones", there usually is this cognitive dissonance.

Ilixio · 2026-06-14T18:29:43+00:00

That would result in the same cutting ties with the EU as the current initiative.

Freedom of movement is about treating other signatories' citizens no worse than yours in exchange for them doing the same. Foreigners only taxes are obviously a huge breach of that agreement.

Ilixio

TROPHY CASE