Where are we from ?

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Originally posted by Ungi

Our banking secret is already taken away last year. Everybody who had a unperonalized bankbook had to personalize it.

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That does make sense, and I think that's been done in Switzerland for the last 15 years or so. I don't even know whether you can (or could) open a unpersonalized account in Luxembourg, but I don't think so.

Actually strangely enough, the US has one of the worst security measures for banks. They don't require banks to hold a copy of your passport / ID while Switerland and Luxembourg do that.

And yes Simon, I think it works somewhere along these lines. But banks in Switzerland are required not to let dodgy people open accounts. They actually have their own investigation team who tries to identify exactly which person is holding the account. Dodgy people include of course mafia people, dictators, dodgy statesman etc...

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Originally posted by Simon666

<snip>
Only if the money is of criminal origin and after a juridicial request I think you can find out in Switzerland. Am I correct?

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I don't know what conditions exactly have to be met to get access to the information, but it is very hard, even for the authorities (the request has to be approved by a lot of instancies). Guess why the big macho's of the world choose Switzerland to keep their money safe?:D

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Originally posted by Simon666

Ever felt the urge to shoot one of those *ssholes (some foreign ministres or presidents certainly are)? What I often ask myself, if there are military guys for the reception of foreign guests, are their rifles loaded with live ammo?

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Yes and no. The one of the military police are, but ours not. We were the poor guys that must not move anything and present the old weapons and look at the guest.

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What do you mean instead of personalizing a bankbook with bankingsecret? That your adviser in the bank must not say anything about your financies?? I am confused, dont they have it in other countries??

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I mean with banking secret that the bank does not has to say if somebody has an account or not. The Belgian government is for instance very curious to know how many citizens have a bank account in Luxembourg without mentioning it on their tax bill (a lot, trust me), but the banks there do not have to say anything against the Belgian government.

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Originally posted by Ungi


Yes and no. The one of the military police are, but ours not. We were the poor guys that must not move anything and present the old weapons and look at the guest.

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But you could still use your rifles as batts, and knock out any potential aggressor...:D :D :D

Yeah, I also am no big fan of the military - the idea that you have to do what some a**hole orderes bugs me a lot. I'm too much of an individulaist, I think.

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Originally posted by Ungi


What do you mean instead of personalizing a bankbook with bankingsecret? That your adviser in the bank must not say anything about your financies?? I am confused, dont they have it in other countries??

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Well the banking secret is a law that makes it illegal for your bank to tell ! anyone ! about your account details. In Luxembourg this amounts to the fact that the state can't ask your bank how much money you hold there and then compare that with the taxes you declare.

I mean, I lived for four years in Britain, and it's scary how "open" banks are about your details. They can even pass them on to "affiliated" companies, so that I was recieving mail from insurers, car-dealers etc...

When renting an appartment, people would ask me for my account history etc. This was a problem in my first year there, since I didn't have any history on my new british account. They tried getting info from my Luxembourgish bank but the bank said no-no, we don't give this information. So I got a letter from my bank-manager saying that I was a good customer, would be able to pay my rent, but unfortunately Luxembourg law prohibited him from disclosing the details ;)

In the US its even worse. There are agencies that do credit checks on you without your consent.

Too bad Haider visits Saddam and not vice versa. Otherwise you could beat the living daylights out of Saddam by using your weapon as a bat. :D On second notice, you could kick Saddam AND Haider using your rifle as bat. :D

How is the government doing by the way? Has it fallen by now? In Germany they will continue with keeping the tax levels as high, and I think this is a reasonable measure to pay for the floods. Just a thought though.

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Originally posted by Simon666

I mean with banking secret that the bank does not has to say if somebody has an account or not. The Belgian government is for instance very curious to know how many citizens have a bank account in Luxembourg without mentioning it on their tax bill (a lot, trust me), but the banks there do not have to say anything against the Belgian government.

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Not to talk about Germany... Remember just after the German reunification, they introduced a new tax on savings for rebuilding the eastern part ? I think I've never seen as many germans with plastic bags as in that time ;)

Well... I have a doubt... what do you do weekends???... I mean, I think that in Europe bars closed very early (here in Spain around 3 AM except some ones and young people are disagree with that), on the other hand, here there are hundrend and hundred of bar (or pub or similar), but in other country I think there aren't so many. And the most important... in most countries in Europe... it is cold!!! :D
In Asia, America, Africa... i don't know how the things are.

Could we answer me? :)

In Luxembourg regular bars close at 1, many stay open till three and there are a few "insider" places which stay open until the owner is too tired :p

I think it's only in the UK where bars close at 11 :/ But then again people start drinking there around 5, so I guess it's just a matter of shifting the day ;) And yes, they don't have dinner at 11 o'clock like spanish people :p

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Originally posted by Yves M
In Luxembourg regular bars close at 1, many stay open till three and there are a few "insider" places which stay open until the owner is too tired :p

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In Spain.. bars begin to be full around 1 AM ;D ;D ... for that we have dinner at 11 ;)

Well, that's mostly because between 12 and 1 you are trying to find a parking place in Madrid :p (Yes, I live in Madrid now ;))

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Originally posted by Yves M
Well, that's mostly because between 12 and 1 you are trying to find a parking place in Madrid :p (Yes, I live in Madrid now ;))

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:mad: :mad: :mad: yes... you're right :) ... I hate to search a parking place!!!, you have to be alert like a vulture :D

The worst that has happened to me was that we were going to see a movie in a cinema in the center. The movie started at 11, so we got there at 10.30. But at 11.15 we still didn't have a parking spot so we just went to eat something at VIPS and went to some bar ;)

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Originally posted by Gabriel Fleseriu


But you could still use your rifles as batts, and knock out any potential aggressor...:D :D :D

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Why so you think the French invented the baïonette?? :)