The Swiss were rallying to trim him down to size, so he opted not to go. This doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is that a Jewish charity would pay him to be their keynote speaker. They haven't had enough yet? They are that desperate??

According to the World Economic Forum, that is. The US held second until last month, now Sweden and Singapore have passed the US. Switzerland just passed the US to take the #1 spot last year. China's moving up and has reached #27. Germany's also climbing the scale, now in the #5 spot. Japan's #6. Finland is #7 and Denmark is #9 putting Scandinavia as a whole in the top 10. Netherlands is #8 and Canada is #10. At the moment. Things are definitely shifting.

The rating is based on 12 variables: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.

SOURCE
http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20News%20Releases/NR_GCR10

A short and sweet defense of Switzerland's decision to ban minaret building may be found here, on Huffington Post, by Joan Z. Shore.

Big news in Europe: the Swiss have consitutionally banned new minarets.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_re_eu/eu_switzerland_minaret_ban

I heard the story on NPR, and until then I had not realized that minarets are supported mostly by the political arm of Islam. There is some dispute among ardent Muslims about their use. I am proud of the Swiss. Those who pine for diversity may not realize that wolves are diverse among sheep.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/

They're not all the same: the UK, Switzerland, Taiwan, Germany, and Japan all provide healthcare for their citizens.