How great is Switzerland?

To many, Switzerland is a perfect country where each is paved with gold, but reality brushes a different picture. With a very low unemployment and a large GDP per capita (more than $62,000) life is as expensive as the country is small and many folks, even if they seem to earn good money, can't make ends meet.

The healthcare system resembles that of the United States even though, just like the French, Swiss folks spend about 12% of their GDP on healthcare costs compared to more than 17% in the USA. Remarkably, its Federal government runs a budget SURPLUS, compared with France and the U.S. that both spend like drunken sailors with deficits ranging from over 3% to 5%!

What's also notable, is that all retirees must pay full health insurance costs which is incredibly taxing in a country that is as egalitarian as France, with a Gini index of about 30, compared to a whopping 45 in the United States.

The only folks who do very well in that country are the “frontaliers”, those workers who live in Switzerland's surrounding countries, that can access Swiss high-paying jobs but enjoy their cushy social protection and low cost of living in their country of residence!