Switzerland's Trade Deal: Selling Souls or Smart Business?
Alright, let's get this straight. Switzerland and the US have struck some kinda deal to lower tariffs. Big whoop. From 39% to 15%? Sounds like someone finally realized those numbers were highway robbery in the first place. U.S. and Switzerland reach trade deal to lower tariffs to 15%
Parmelin, the Swiss Economy Minister, is out there saying they "haven't sold their souls to the devil." Give me a break. That's exactly what you say after you've made a deal with the devil. You never hear anyone say that before. It's like politicians think we're all idiots. Oh wait...
And what's with the "best we could achieve" line? That's code for "we caved." What pressure did the US put on little ol' Switzerland? Did they threaten to stop buying their chocolate or something?
I'm seeing a lot of talk about cookies too. Essential cookies, performance cookies, and targeting cookies. What are these guys running, a bake sale or a global surveillance operation? Offcourse, it's the latter.
So, the EUFA is in the mix too. Great. More bureaucracy. They're all about "processing your data" to deliver content and ads. Sounds like a euphemism for "we're gonna track your every move and sell your soul to the highest bidder."
They claim it's all about "legitimate interest." Whose legitimate interest? Theirs, not mine. I don't remember signing up for this digital striptease.
And all these options to "consent" or "object"? Please. It's designed to be confusing. They bury the opt-out options so deep you need a freakin' archeological dig to find them. It's like trying to cancel a gym membership – they make it as painful as possible.
Plus, they admit social media platforms can track your activity outside of their services. So much for privacy. It's all connected, all the time. You can't escape it.
Who really wins here? Not the average Swiss citizen, I'm guessing. Probably some corporations in Zurich and Geneva who can now rake in even more cash.
And what about Sweden? Where do they fit into all this? Oh, right, they're just mentioned in the context of UEFA and data collection. Figures. Everyone's just a data point now.
It's all about personalized advertising and content. They want to create profiles of your interests so they can sell you more crap. But wait, are we really just walking wallets to these people? Is that all we're worth?
This whole deal smells fishy. It's a bunch of corporate double-speak designed to make us think we're getting a good deal when, in reality, we're getting screwed. Parmelin can say they didn't sell their souls, but let's be real, they probably leased them out on a long-term contract with an option to renew.
