Rich Snail

Fifth in my series on National Healthcare System is the Swiss Healthcare System. It just went live on the Lighthouse Blog, and I’m sure you’ll find it very interesting. Especially if you are one of my Swiss readers – my analytics program tells me you are a few visiting form this lovely country

A little teaser to entice you to follow the here above link.
You’ll discover that the Swiss System:

1. mandates its residents to buy healthcare;
2. lets individuals choose from a choice of health plans;
3. lets management of these plans to private insurance companies;

This short video prepared by The Economist is a must see should you wish to understand the geo-political tensions arising in the region following China’s territorial claims.

I personally don’t get why their claims extend so far. Taiwan is a touchy subject – I get it, and will leave it aside. But as their influence in the region grows, China does have a tendency to push the line a bit further as soon as it can. The problem for China will be to know when being a Bully will not be tolerated any more as it gains influence on the world stage. Countries like Malaysia or Vietnam, presently have a hard time stepping up to the Big Panda for fear or endangering their economic ties; but this could change should American and Chinese tensions continue to rise. I hope the bully won’t push its hands too far…

Caustic and to the point.
Humour as the british would say…

Gallup recently surveyed more than 260,000 people to know the worldwide migration trend. They asked two simple question: If given the possibility, would you like to move permanently to another country, and if so, which country would you like to move to? The following graph shows where migrants are most likely to be found:

The following graph shows the net migration for each country – add the number of people who wish to move there, and subtract the number of people that want to leave. Not surprisingly, developed countries top the charts, with the USA as the preferred destination with a net change of 165 million people. More surprisingly, Saudi Arabia, Russia and  Malaysia are also very attractive…

Interestingly, most of the desired move would be from a developing country to a developed country, while according to the 2009 United Nations’ Human Development Report, most of the world’s international immigrants move from one developing country to another developing country or between developed countries.

Understandably, migration policies of developed countries do not facilitate the job of migrants from developing countries. Were borders to be open without restrictions, some countries would see drastic change in their populations.

A modern fairy tale…